good morning, everybody. it is straight up 7:00. this is special nbc today coverage of the earthquake in japan. but the live ramifications of that coming to the bay area as you take a look at the pictures here. skyline boulevard near 92 in san mateo county where dozens and p higher ground anticipating the tsunami that will be hitting the pacific coast in about an hour from now. good morning, everybody. taupg thank you for joining us. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. we have complete coverage right here, right now. >> we have been showing you all

the aftermath from the earthquake in japan. we have been talking about the tsunami that generated a massive tsunami where the september enter epicenter occurred. >> 200 to 300 people he died bewept through. >> the sum nam tsunami hit around 5:00 this morning in hawaii. we have a tsunami warning in effect for us this morning. we'll go to christina loren for more on that. good morning to you. we are just about 23 minutes out from the anticipated arrival of the first wave to crescent city. it could be anywhere between six and eight feet in height. we'll continue to watch that for you. my concern is when we see the wave or series of waves we are going to see quite a few of them over the course of probably two hours, maybe up to three hours. i want to see what's going to happen when that wave comes through. it is expected to go under the golden gate bridge. as you can see, it will be squeezed in this area. whenever you see a column squeezed you see the wave grow.

so it is going to be very interesting to see how this plays out for us here in san francisco. we are going to be following the tsunami as well as your local weather all among long. it is a good day today. 60 degrees. a bit of rain on the way for the weekend. we'll talk about that, but we'll talk about what's impageanting impacting your drive this morning in half-moon bay. what's happening out there, mike inouye? huge crowds heading over the hill. folks are parked on the side of highway 92 at highway 35. that's a big issue coming over from the coast to 280. and then we'll take you live to the maps. we'll show you -- there's the live chopper shot. there's all the activity at the intersection of highway 35 and 92. a big note for you because of a lot of folks walking around in the area. that's a highway. these are other folks traveling across the citrine traveling over the hill getting over to san mateo, to 280 and 101. no major slowing aside from the activity on the side. b.a.r.t. we are watching right now. we have an update. no service interruptions right now, but you mentioned crescent

city. that's where the biggest effect from the tsunami will be. if the tide rises to eight feet as predicted, or anything less than that, the trains will operate normally. if they go above ten then they stop service between oakland and san francisco. so they are going to continue to monitor this. so far no interruptions to service for b.a.r.t. the friday service is continuing as normal between the east bay and the san francisco side. that's better news as you are traveling through the area. then no major issues except for the metering lights on the east bay side. a note that the great highway continues to be closed. they have just closed it to traffic. they don't want spectators heading to the coast. we have had updates from christie in pacifica and jeff along the coast looking at the waves. they just don't want spectators to through the and closed the great highway near point lobos. thank you for the update there. people are bracing for the tsunami as we have been mentioning in the bay area as we expect it in an hour or so. they have set up the command center in san francisco.

marla tellez is live at the department of emergency management in san francisco with the very latest for us. marla? >> reporter: laura, good morning. the very latest, we are just getting word from officials here that the mayor of san francisco is expected to be here at any moment now to get updated on the current situation. and perhaps also speak to the media. so, of course, when that happens we'll bring that to you. here's the latest from the department of emergency management. they just wrapped up a conference call this morning with california's emergency management agency as to the latest in assessing the risks. they do not expect serious waves to come ashore here, but as they are calling it, they are taki takingabundance precaution this morning. no evacuations are in place for the city of san francisco. and emergency officials are saying do not call 911 unless you do have a real emergency. but if you are just calling in regards to the tsunami warning,

do not call 911. instead, call the non-emergency line at 311. as for the folks along the coastline here in san francisco, just be smart. do not go to the beaches. we have been telling you the beaches are closed as is the great highway. if you live on the coast, stay away from the water. it is really best to stays a far inland as you can this morning. that's the latest from here. >> as we are hearing from you, we are actually looking at live pictures of the pacifica coastline. we talked to people earlier that live in some of the homes there where they were told to evacuate. and some of these waves are starting to get large. or larger than they were before. you can definitely see it there. we have cameras across the coastline there. look at the swells as they come in. >> yeah, and to explain how this works a little bit, the tsunami moves across the ocean. when you have a big surf wave, it crashes and then ebbs back out. with the tsunami it is this big

surge of water, and you can see the water levels build and build. so you might have a one-foot surge, but then that wave doesn't clear out. and then the next surge comes in and it can stack up on itself. and that's where you begin to see that. the actual tsunami is supposed to hit at about 8:00 this morning. but what we are seeing here is maybe the precursor to that, some people from the u.s. geological survey mentioned that you are going to kind of see the precursor to the waves start coming in. and that's why they wanted to clear out the low-lying areas. that's why some of the beaches are closed. and don't forget, also the undertow, they don't want you out in it. it is a great wave, but you are a stronger undertow than you normally would. >> and the waves are powerful. on the phone is kelly from pacifica. kelly, tell me where you are, are you in a safe place, first of all? >> i'm in a safe place. i'm in my home. i am overlooking the ocean on top of the hill. and i have a 180-degree view of the ocean. and what i see right now, this

is a ton of white water washing up onto the beach. >> we are seeing the live pictures of probably similar stuff to what you are looking at right now. is this unusual? you look out at the ocean every day, is this different than what you normally see? >> i look at the ocean every day, but there's not so much white water. it usually rolls in and there's not so much foam and then it rolls back out. but right now it is just coming in one wave after the other. and there's really no break. and it looks like it is up a little higher. i went down to go to work this morning, i work on the beach in the gym down there, and all the roads were shut off and i couldn't get to work. obviously, i don't want to stay down there. >> right, that's your best bet. they have closed the beaches down there and are telling people that are close to the shoreline to get out. we talked to some people earlier this morning packing up and just heading to higher ground there. and we are able to show some folks some live pictures. it sounds like you are at a safe vantage point where you are

because you are up high. >> i'm up high a couple hundred feet. but i can see parts of ships coming out of the bay. there are still ships coming out. >> i don't think right now from what we are being told, jeff ranieri has an eye on what's going on down there, but so far nothing like ship traffic is affected. but it is the low-lying areas, it is the coastal areas, it is the surf. that's where you can see things really begin to change. and i think we are starting to see some of the early waves come ashore. i think that's what we are seeing here. >> kelly, tell me, when you did go down to attempt to go to work, you said you worked in a gym closer to the water there, are there a lot of people milling around or were people trying to get away? >> there was nobody down there. they had it barricaded off. and they were not letting anybody down by the water at all. the gym is right on the water or right by the watter water.

it was like a ghost town there. i had to turn around and leave. they just weren't letting anybody into the businesses. >> right, you have to take all the precautions that you can. >> we are also being told that this is going to coincide with a relatively low tide. so that's good news. if we had what they call a high tide, it would have a bigger impact. but it looks like a low tide that will help. you can see some of the coastal roads along the edge of the water. that's what they are afraid of. >> we'll check in with christie smith live this morning at ocean beach now. >> reporter: good morning to you, brent and laura. we are in pacifica very close to where your caller mentioned she lived on the hill in pacifica. i think we may be very close to where she is. i wanted to show you what we are seeing out here this morning. we are talking with the folks who live up in these hills here. they seem to be the ones who are staying. we see them walking their dogs coming down to keep an eye on the water, but the folks who

live down low, there's a tsunami sign that i took a picture of. i'll try to get that in. a tsunami sign for the neighborhood down below saying that basically this has the potential to be a tsunami zone. we saw those folks packing up this morning throwing food and water and their dogs in the car trying to get out. they had watched the coverage in japan and they just really didn't want to take any chances. we are seeing a lot of foam, what the caller was talking about, just white water rolling into the beach here. and when we drove by, it is a lot like what she said, you just don't see anyone over there. when you see people, they seem to be heading east. obviously, away from the water. this is the type of beach where you may see people out at this hour, see them walking around, but you can see that it is totally empty, all the beach access. when we drove by there were police officers there with barricade up. there's no beach access out here this morning. so a lot of folks just kind of keeping an eye on things.

expecting this to come in within the next maybe 40 minutes or so. and it is kind of a split. you have the people who are saying, hey, i want to get out to higher ground, and those saying they are expecting it to be three feet. they live a little higher and they are going to ride it out. but we spoke with a woman packing up to leave with her family, her dogs, and here's what she had to say. at this point we'll try to get to her later, but basically she said she lived here for quite some time and has been through this before. she's packing up. here she is. >> after what happened in indonesia, we are not taking any chances. we just want to all leave and be safe. and higher ground is good enough. this is low to me, unfortunately, because i remember what happened back in the '60s. so we are leaving. >> reporter: again, just kind of a different feeling out here.

we are watching the waves this morning. we are seeing pacifica pa police here. you don't see a whole lot of activity. this is the kind of area where you see people out there jogging and walking usually. but at this point you don't see a whole lot going on with people just watching and waiting and a lot of people packing up and leaving. we'll try to check back in with you in a little bit and talk to folks to see what they have to say. >> thank you very much. christie. stay safe. keeping an eye on the tides and the surge and how it is different in different parts it have bay area, we'll go to christina right now. >> good morning to you, guys. well, just 15 minutes out from the first expected waves in crescent city. so we'll have pictures for you from there coming up. we'll be able to get a better picture as to what we can anticipate from the tsunami warning as we head through the next couple of hours and really see what plays out there. we are still expecting it, the buoys are on track for 8:08. we mentioned the cargo ships earlier. what's really interesting about

a tsunami is it can travel up to 500 miles. this particular tsunami is moving at 500 miles per hour under the water. so you really don't even see much of a ripple effect out in the open waters of the ocean. really interesting, you start to see those waves break as they get closer and closer to the coast. you can see the differentiation of the topography here in the bay area. different places are expecting different wave heights as a result. we are going to talk more about that coming up, but as you can see here, 2.5-foot waves expected in half-moon bay. it looks like already getting busy out there as laura pointed out. it is definitely getting more active out there, guys. all right. we also want to check in with mike who has been watching the roadways for us. and we are talking about the closures in the low-lying areas. and because people are trying to get to higher ground, that's causing problems. >> the ripple effect, everything is connected here in the bay area with the traffic flow. first to my maps we'll talk

about the closures. you talked about that on the left side of the screen above the peacook there. that is the great highway between point lobos and lake mersaid. they didn't want spectators out there as a safety issue as far as the flow of traffic and folks getting out of the cars and going towards the show. you know you can stay clear of there. then we'll look a little further south. we are watching -- i was worried about the dumbarton bridge, basically the newark and fremont side. as you pass by the radio towers, it is very low in the area. but christina says it will happen at low tide so it should not be quite an impact. but it will raise the water level up throughout the bay. we'll keep our eyes on that area. meanwhile, you talked about the impact on the roadways because folks are basically evacuating out of the area of half-moon bay and north of there where a lot of folks live on highway 1. they are heading to highway 92 to 35. our chopper just left the scene, but that was a scene of a huge

backup. we have some backup video. i don't know if we can show it, that's late notice, but that was heading over to highway 35. now we are off to the right side of the screen where you see slowing on eastbound 92 between 280 and 101. there could be more folks flowing through the area because they have to get out of the area anyway and could be continuing about their day heading to other inland areas. it is a weird traffic flow along the peninsula in san mateo county because of all the warnings. we are also expecting a news press conference this morning from san francisco mayor ed lee who is at the office of emergency services this morning. they are really working in conjunction. we are standing by for that. but first we'll back up and talk about how this all started. >> it all started with an 8.9 earthquake in japan, the northeast part of the country. about 250 miles north of tokyo. that not only the earthquake but then it spawned the tsunami. you can see the water here just flowing for miles inland def

staying villages. because of that the death toll is now at least 300 people. police in one area found 300 bodies so far. we are talking about the train service, the bullet train service is down, airports are closed. one airport is under water in some parts. we have seen buckled roads where the road is buckled several feet up into the air there. so this massive earthquake in japan this morning, and the japanese government is asking for international aid. president obama has pledged to help wherever the united states can. we should point out there are military bases in japan. so far everybody, u.s. personnel, has been suspected for there. has been accounted for there. the pentagon says navy ships are headed to japan right now to provide some aid. and not only do they have the 8.9 earthquake to deal with themselves, but the aftershocks are very large. 7.1 in some cases being so large. and that put the tsunami warning in effect. we have been talking to people

in hawaii as well because they saw as well as three-foot waves with the surge coming in to hit the area there. in fact, this is japanese television right now that we are getting pictures in from there. you can see the water coming in to sweep through the area. this is really amazing to see because along the way, this looks like kind of a rural area, they have some farmland, but it literally just picked up cars and homes with it as it just went across. the surge was so strong and so incredible. it just enveloped everything in its path. >> sometimes it is not how high the wave is but how powerful it is. you can see destruction there. we'll continue to follow the breaking news here in the aftermath of the 8.9 earthquake? jap japan. we'll be right back.

we are awaiting a press conference this morning from san

francisco mayor ed lee. he's at the office of emergency services this morning. everyone is in conjunction this morning trying to plan the best plan as a tsunami is set to hit the bay area about 8:00, 45 minutes away this morning. and because of that there are plans in the works we evacuation centers set up that we want to tell you about. san mateo county law enforcement says that all the beaches and low-lying coastal areas should be evacuated immediately. we are told that all schools in pacifica are now closed for the day. people in low-lying areas of highway 1 should move to higher ground east of the highway as quickly as possible as we take a live look outside. again, we have a lot of cameras set up. >> that's at the marin headlands. >> we have a lot of cameras set up this morning to take a look at the water levels and surge to see what happens there. people in the linda mar area of pacifica are told to go east of adobe drive. people in el grenada need to go

east of coronado street. you need to get to higher ground in the event that we get some flooding. we have evacuation centers set up as well. and i want to tell you about those. some of them, terra nova high school. oceana high school, farallone view elementary school and pescadero high school. these are some of the places you can go for an evacuation center. we are watching for the tsunami to come. they are saying the surge is 1.5 feet in the san francisco bay area. pacifica could see a 2.5-foot surge. again, here's a live look outside this morning from pacifica. we are waiting to see that come along. >> we are looking at the waves coming in and talked to somebody who lives in pacifica saying she did notice the bigger waves that started to come in already. so it was predicted they would come in at 8:00 this morning. so we are just waiting and have been talking to people in hawaii

because at 5:00 this morning that's when they were seeing them. we talked to some of the people in the tsunami warning center up there and saw the same sized waves this morning. we have been watching this scenario up and down the coast. christina mentioned that on the northern end of california up around arcada they expect a larger surge there. working south not as big of a surge. we talked to our nbc reporters in san diego. they are treating it more as an advisory down there. however, there are beaches closed in southern california. we want to talk to andi adler still live with us this morning in orange county, california. you do have some closures down there this morning, andi? >> reporter: hi, good morning. that's absolutely correct. right now orange county beaches, malibu beaches, the they are all closed. in fact, if you look right behind me here -- >> we apologize. obviously, we are having interference with her live shot there. but they did close the beaches along newport and several in orange county.

>> one of the things the emergency officials that she spoke with said, it may not be because of the massive waves, but we could see a stronger undertow. so they didn't want people to get out in the water to go surfing and that kind of thing because the currents you may not be able to see looking at a live picture like this, but under the water you could see a stronger than normal current. that could be a factor. >> you don't want to be out there and knyou need to know wh you may encounter. it was sbraesing talking about the different sizes of swells we could see coming in. yeah, it really is. the good thing for us in the san francisco area is the fact that it will correspond with low tide. so that could actually make some of the outcome a little bit easier for us here. but we are talking about potential beach erosion. you still want to avoid all beaches, harbors, and marinas for the next several hours. let's go ahead and talk about what we are expecting in terms of the different sizes of waves.

we are going to see large waves that are going to pile up. and it is all going to happen at once. so about 15 minutes apart, but one after the other after the other could create some very serious situations when it comes to coastal flooding. we are expecting in santa cruz waves almost up to three feet. but you can see it is because they have this curvature here. we are kind of vertical in san francisco where we are expecting it to hit us. so the places seeing the curvature are going to see the biggest waves. as a column is squeezed and the wave is able to get larger and larger, that is. we are an tips pating a foot and a half for places like san francisco. up to three feet in santa cruz. and in half-moon bay we are talking about the potential for waves at about 2.6 feet. so definitely something we are concerned about. i know mike inouye is following the situation when it comes to people evacuating. and i know a lot of people have to get to work today. you can still follow what's happening on nbcbayarea.com. we'll have live updates coming

in our newsroom and right online in just minutes. that's for you all day long. we'll continue to watch this for you. and the time is right. 7:24, that's when we expect the first waves in crescent city. pictures are coming up. back to you. thank you, christina. let's take you to san francisco this morning. >> that's right. we'll go to the office of emergency services where san francisco mayor ed lee is expected to speak. they are really trying to coordinate services this morning to get the most information out to folks. let's listen in. all right. i see joanne white there from the fire department. all agencies are coordinating this morning, so they are all gathering. >> okay. one of the things we have been talking about, marla tellez is there all morning long. let's listen to ed now. >> we are at the office emergency center of services

here. standing behind me is the public works director and others in assistance to the area as well. we have been monitoring the situation. as of late last night, i was one of those watching very late on the news. we had an 8.9 earthquake in japan with over 7.2 aftershocks, which both caused a very gigantic tsunami wave to hit the northeast sector of japan. as that hit we are already in action assuming that it might come all the way across the pacific ocean through hawaii on to the west coast. since midnight last night through this morning we have been monitoring with all the data information and tsunami warning centers for the state of california and for the whole west coast. and as of today, as of 8:208, we expect the impact of those

tsunami waves to hit the western shore of the united states. having said that, the monitoring indicates to us that we will in the san francisco area perhaps receive about a one to two-feet increase in our waves. now, since it is low tide, and we have been working very closely with all the science and tsunami warning centers throughout the west coast monitoring this, it will only result in a higher wave than usual and not exceed our seawall. we expect that not to happen. and we are continuing to monitor it, but in extra precautions that we have taken, we have closed the highway, the great highway, the upper highway and the lower highway, just as an added precaution. we have asked our citizens and our visitors not to be on the beach or any part of the coastline just as an extra precaution. we have not called for an evacuation. we don't believe that's necessary at this time.

but we do have things ready in case the data changes. and we just were on the phone from seconds ago with the tsunami warning center, and they indicate no change. and that's the result of the waves they have seen come through hawaii and on the way here. now, we experience a different type of geography than crescent city. up in crescent city they do have a different wave action than maybe what we'll experience here, they will see eight to nine-feet waves near the border of california. we will not and do not expect to receive that kind of wave action here in the bay area. and that continues to be the case. we have not called for an evacuation, but we stand ready with extra police officers out on the richmond area. we have them staged around the great highway area. and we have our signers ready to be activated should that be necessary. thus far that is not necessary, so i asked the public to remain

calm. we are here in the office of emergency services monitoring everything and being in touch with all of the tsunami warning sites. and they are monitoring for us and reporting on an hourly basis. so i feel confident that we will not be hurt by this. obviously, my personal and our city's sympathy and condolences go out there to japan immediately. i'll be calling the council general and offer any assistance that we can give to japan as of now, but my immediate concern was the safety of the citizens. and we are on that as of this morning. if there's any questions, we can take those. [ inaudible question ] >> just as a precaution. we have all the signs down and predictions, we just don't know what earthquakes do in the ocean. we don't know all the impacts that they have. so we just wanted to take an

abundance of precaution by closing that highway. it could change and we are ready for that change, so we just wanted to take extra precautions. [ inaudible question ] >> we live with the anxiety here to some degree. we obviously have been ready, i've been ready, perhaps this role is a bit new for me, but as city administrator i have been ready for disaster recovery for the last two or three years as we concentrated on that. our city has been ready, very well ready and trained and we have been practicing thanks to the assistance of our previous mayors and all the training we have done as a city. yes, we live with a degree of anxiety. i didn't sleep last night because i was watching it every hour myself. and seeing to it that everything was being done. we are testing or texting each other to make sure all things were covered. and the city is very ready. i'm very proud of them to not only be here but they have been

here since midnight last night. >> reporter: can you talk about taking this to the next level and what would have been the next stage? >> we are listening to the tsunami center and all the science. they have understood cay or thes indicators all throughout the area between here and hawaii. they will tell us if the wave action would be changing. it will probably take two to three meter of warning. then we would then start discussions on evacuation strategies. we have those ready to go, but right now it is probably less than a meter. it is probably around one or two feet in increase. >> reporter: can you talk about the agencies involved? >> at this time we are very open. similar to what e we had done for china when they had the earthquake, i would ask that the council general and members of his staff report to us what is

needed. clearly, the next few days, in fact, the next few weeks we'll probably hear a lot of devastation there. i mean, already the body counts are very high. the loss of property could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. the initial models that have been used in japan indicate up to 1,000 lives lost and $100 billion in property loss. given the size of this historic earthquake, we'll be keeping channels open on that. any assistance they need be it money or clothing or all kinds of things we have done traditionallythe through other countries that have experienced this. right now my focus is the safety of san francisco. and we are ready for any changes that might occur. >> reporter: i know there are no evacuations right now, but this might be a good time to remind san franciscoans what to do if there were a tsunami warning. >> absolutely. we will take time today to

remind people that these things are real. and when you watch the videotapes of the tsunami in japan, you know it is not a movie. it is a very devastating, powerful natural act. and literally i saw farm lands and cities and coastal lines completely wiped out. and cars that were driving down roads were just completely lifted and moved away. and i'm sure lives were lost in those actions. so these things are no longer reflections of movies. they are real. and tsunamis are real for us. i think that we probably considered them not real because we are so far away, but they are very real when you see the real life videotapes hitting the coast of japan and others that experience the tsunami waves. >> reporter: we are a half hour away from this hitting us, what are you going to do between now and then? are there more conference calls? >> yes, we have conference calls

every 15 to 20 minutes, i believe. again, with the tsunami warning centers established throughout the state, the oes system, we are in conference with everybody who is a major city along the coastal area is in the conference call. we are receiving reports from the scientific indicators placed throughout parts of the ocean. okay, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> all right. we have been listening to san francisco mayor ed lee this morning. he's been up all night at the office of emergency services monitoring the video we have been seeing from japan this morning. the result of an 8.9 earthquake hitting japan. at least 200 to 300 people have been killed already. that in and of itself triggered a tsunami warning. it hit hawaii earlier this morning and now is headed for our own california coastline. that's what we are monitoring. we will eventually bring you and take you back to the "today" show this morning, but we want to follow what is happening and

potentially could happen here on thrnnohe crtalifornia coastlines. more coverage is coming up in a few more minutes. al

welcome back, everyone. taking you live outside to the golden gate bridge this morning. we are really keeping our eye on the bay and the california coastlines this morning as we await a tsunami to hit the

northern california coastline at about 8:00 this morning. we are interrupting the "today" show. we will take you back to it this morning, but we wanted to give you the most up-to-date information on school closures, all pacifica schools are closed. any evacuations taking place we'll continue to let you know. let's go to christina keeping tabs on the forecast and the tidal information that could affect what we are going to see in the bay area. >> good morning to you, guys. we are about a half hour away from what we are expecting to see our first waves. it is glassy out there right now, but everything is going to change as we could potentially see waves in excess of a foot and a half. those will be very powerful waves. and we could see them lasting probably about 15 minutes apart until 10:30 a.m. this morning. it is definitely something we'll be watching over the course of time. it is not going to happen at at once. it is going to happen over time. so we are going to watch that for you. and it is the waves that compile

on top of each other that will really bring about coastal flooding, beach erosion, and we are really concerned that the topography has everything to do with the way the coastline is shaped. san francisco is verts call, so we won't see as high of wave heights as half-moon bay. we have a traffic snarl for places near santa cruz. up to 2.8 feet possible. so mike inouye is following everything happening on the roadways, buts the this is not something you are typically accustomed to. that's right. we'll focus on this in a second. i just got in the e-mail box another update from the san mateo emergency system. they are just saying they are on tsunami warning for california. pacifica, half-moon bay, el grenado and other communities have been notified. if you are in the low-lying areas near the ocean, move

inland. traited thatt reitcc1: for the morning. that's the reason we are seeing all the folks heading over the hill from highway 1 to highway 92 and hear highway 35 and 280. we have earlier video in the system. i don't know if we can access it from the chopper over the scene there, it is. morning,1: is cc 45 minutes ago. look at the cars parked on the side of the roadway. highway 35 and highway 92 are both highways. don't go walking along the side. i saw a lot of kids walking on the fog line. i was concerned for their safety. so far no accidents reported. the sheriff's office and chp are doing a really good job of the traffic control there. so far it's slow heading over the hill in towards 280. keep in mind all the folks are trying to evacuate per the requests in the area. here's one live shot outside. here's a live look at the bay bridge with the traffic flow is pretty nicely. i'll give you another traffic update. there's the bay bridge itself with traffic across the bay nor the commute. it is friday light. back to you guys. we want to take you to chief

meteorologist jeff ranieri live in san francisco this morning along the waterfront at marina green. listening to san francisco mayor ed lee talking about some of the places like the great highway closed, ocean beach closed, no evacuations in san francisco, but what are you kind of seeing there. expecting?ucc1: what are they telling you along the waterfront there? >> reporter: i can tell you people are very cautious out here. right along the water right here at the mouth of the san francisco bay, a lot of people usually are out and about. and they are very close to the water in the morning time. we are not seeing that at all. we are seeing people that are jogging and curious about will there be a potential tsunami, but nobody is getting close to the water. looking behind me it looks relatively calm at this point because we are heading into the low tide event. so heading into 8:08 this morning, when we could see the wave heights raise to about two to four feet from the current

level, that low tide could help to equalize things out and kind of minimize the impacts. however, our neighbors to the north in crescent city, there have been evacuations there. it is an area that has been prone to tsunamis in the past. that's an area of concern. also with folks in santa barbara, another low-lying community well off to the south. so for everyone in the bay area, the biggest thing for you to remember is it is not a day by any means for you to test this out and to get in the water to get on your surfboard or to try and go swimming. with any kind of tsunami wave action, sometimes it is what you cannot see. it is what is underneath the water that is happening. that could pull you under and could lead to death in some cases. so we'll continue to monitor the water and have any updates as needed. >> appreciate it, jeff. no sense taking any chances there. that's with all the warnings there. people seem to be heeding the warnings as well. we want to check in with christie smith live in pacifica this morning. i know you talked to some people

that were told to evacuate, christie. >> reporter: yeah, we did. in the low-lying areas we just happened to turn the corner and saw a woman teleing throwing things in the back of her car, including her three dogs. she was not taking any chances and really wanted to get out. but up a little higher where we are standing now, this has become a curiosity. we are seeing quite a few people p here walking their dogs with: cameras out here this morning trying to get a look at what may come in perhaps 30 minutes or so. also, you can see the water is just -- it kind of appears calm, but you can sigh it rolls quite a ways in this morning to the beach there. and when we were driving in, normally this is the time of day as jeff was talking about where you see people out here, you see them with cups of coffee and walking their dogs. you see them on the beach, and you are just not seeing that this morning for obvious reasons. but there really isn't access. we saw police basically blocking any access to the beach. there were also barricades up as

well. now, we are also seeing, as i said, people evacuating and telling us they have been through something like this way back in the 1960s taking no chances, but there are other people out here, long-time residents a little higher up are not expecting the worst. so they tell us they are going to stay and watch. >> i'm just going to stay put rather than try to run the higher ground. a couple of my children live here in the valley. in fact, they are in the back of the valley, so that's where they have been telling us to stay. >> reporter: she is talking about high schools in the area established as evacuation centers for those who want to leave. and at this point it is just kind of all eyes on the water. people keeping a safe distance, but very curious about what's to come, what's to happen here. but it just kind of -- it almost has the feeling of a sunday morning. you just don't see a lot of people out even downtown at this

hour when it would be quite busy. so we'll try to talk with some more people and check back in with you in a little bit. >> thank you, crisis christie. the associated press is saying some of the first waves are hitting the mainland, and specifically the north coast. we don't know if that means san francisco or crescent city. >> they will be much higher there. >> maybe waves as tall as 9 feet tall. christie mentioned the evacuation centers. scott has more on that. >> pacifica schools are closed according to the website. the school district there has evacuation centers in pacifica. the schools are being used as evacuation centers. a couple more for you, santa cruz boardwalk area is closed as well. here you see the list of evacuation centers, terra nova high school, oceana high school, and farallone and pescadero. those are all open to anyone who

wants to use them, but there is no school being used. santa clara crews in the boardwalk area have closed. several flights at sfo have been canceled into japan. i talked to jeff ron asking them about refineries in the area and low-lying areas, they say they are just monitoring the situation. same goes with cargill salt. if you work in an area that involves being very close to sea level, be cautious. call in to your employer. people in low-lying areas of highway 1, this according to the san mateo county emergency office, should evacuate. this is the linda mar area of pacifica's of adoe into drive. people in el granada need to move east. we have seen lots of cars at highway 92 and 35. this is just folks driving to high ground. they are parked along the shoulder and parked in the

median. chp tells me they are out monitoring the situation making sure traffic flows. ironically, it is flowing well as people are simply moving to higher ground at the intersection of 92 and 35. that's the latest as far as closures. we will continue to mop or the all of them and bring all of them as they come. thank you. here's the latest from japan. an 8.9 earthquake hitting northeast of tokyo. some of the video here, 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeast part of the country because of this, that giant tsunami wave that just swept across villages and across the landscape there. it wiped out buildings, cars, boats, everything in its path. tsunami warnings because of that have been in effect for at least 50 countries around the world, including the bay area. and the associated press, as i mentioned, said the first waves have hit on the northern california coast. this is an interesting shot of the people trying to get down the highway away from the wave.

20 aftershocks following because of that. >> these are pictures from hawaii because we talked to folks there as well. the tsunami hit there about 5:00 a.m. they said that the waves there were about three feet high or so. recorded off oahu and kauai. officials warn that the waves could be larger as they travel west. it depends on where they hit in the northern california coastline as we reported near crescent city, 8 to 9-foot waves expected there. here in the bay area, maybe up to three feet depending on where they actually hit. >> this is a live look, as a matter of fact, we are talking about some of the waves come in. marin headlands this morning, a lot of folks in pacifica said they are seeing more white water. they said, hey, we have waves coming through in the morning, but we are seeing the white water because the waves are more turbulent. ocean beach now there. >> i'm surprised to see people out there because the beaches

are supposed to be evacuated this morning. christie smith was out there before moving to pacific da pacif pacifica. you really shouldn't go out to any of the coastal region this is morning. stay far away. we want to check in with christina as we watch the pictures and see the white waves coming in and mentioning, of course, not always what you see on the surface, it is the currents underneath as well. >> that's exactly right. and we are starting to see the first impacts in northern california. we are trying to get in touch with our affiliate right now to find out exactly what's happening in crescent city. we'll bring you that information in just moments. you don't want to go to the beaches. not today. i would say not any time between now and 10:30. after all, the first waves arrived in hawaii at 5:00 a.m. they are still under a tsunami warning. and that could be the case possibly for another hour or so. so for us, we are going to see a situation that doesn't just happen like that. it is something that's going to happen over the course of time, possibly two or three hours.

beginning right now in places like crescent city, for san francisco, you can see here the topography of the land up and down vertical here. that's why we are only expecting about a foot and a half waves. of course, we have low tide corresponding with the timing of the anticipating waves. but at half-moon bay you get the curvature of the coastline. we are expecting waves up to 2.6 feet. so over 2% 5 feet. one after the other, this could create a serious situation. that's why we have the evacuations in order. mike inouye is all over what's happening when it comes to the evacuations. you know, this is rush hour, mike. so definitely something we want to keep following for you as we head through the next couple of hours. my map is showing the same area you showed. rush hour on a friday, fortunately, that means a lighter flow on the freeways. 101 is seeing slowdowns, but that's typical. there as scott showed you video from the chopper, 92 at 35, then further east over towards 280 just jam packed by the folks leaving the area of the coast. of course, they have been asked

to evacuate to higher ground. there's the video itself from a short time ago at that summit right at skyline. highway 35 and highway 92. folks are lining the side of the roadway in an effort to just hang out at higher ground. we'll watch the effects of that. and if the alert clears shortly after 8:00 or towards the 9:00 and 10:00 hour, a lot of folks will be heading out of the area. we'll continue to follow that. the chopper is showing the wine did windy road near half-moon bay and 280. point lobos is closed down to lake mersaid. they want to close the beaches and avoid anybody hitting the waves. the roadway as well as the beaches are closed coming through that portion of san francisco. san francisco does not have any coastal evacuations orders through the area. traveling along the other side of the peninsula, northbound 101 does also travel alongside the water as pretty close to the water in some spots coming near candlestick. you can see it on the side of the map. the warning level for the waters

near the bay to rise. it shouldn't be a problem since it is hitting at low tide. that's accord iing to levels abe the water. we are following the tunnel that travels under the water, the transbay tunnel from b.a.r.t. they are continuing to monitor crescent city. the waves hit above ten feet in crescent city, b.a.r.t. will cancel service there. so far no interruptions. back to you. we want to take you back out to the department of emergency management in san francisco this morning where san francisco mayor ed lee spoke a short time ago. and marla tellez is there live this morning. >> reporter: good morning, brent. yeah, that's right. we just heard from the mayor of san francisco, ed lee, who briefed us, too the media, after he talked to officials here inside the department of management. no evacuations are still needed for san francisco. he says that san francisco is prepared to handle the tsunami.

he's confident about that. but at the same time, he does not expect the waves along the coast to exceed the seawalls along the coastline. so nonetheless, he is warning people to stay away from the coastline altogether this morning. he is saying that extra police officers and fire trucks are standing by in various neighborhoods just as a precautionary measure. he says emergency officials again do not expect the waves to go up and over the seawall this morning. that is good news. now, as we approach the 8:08 deadline, emergency officials here are constantly on the phone with other emergency agencies up and down the california coast in various cities getting the latest as the waves make their way north to south more toward the bay area this morning. marla tellez here in san francisco for "today in the bay." >> it is pretty neat to see live pictures there of the waves coming in. in fact, let's go to tom evans

with the national weather center this morning. i understand you're already starting to see some big swells coming in? >> we are seeing the tsunami wave. we are seeing the tide gauge there raise one foot in the last few minutes. >> how many gauges do you have and where are they located? >> the gauges along the coast are few and far between. we have one up in san francisco, one in monterey for this area, and there's some others in the san francisco bay itself. >> can you estimate a time then of when it could actually come here to san francisco's bay or to the coastline? >> yeah, the time frame for san francisco just on the inside of the golden gate, we are looking at 8:00, 8:10. it will be there in the next 15 minutes. the height on that, we are still looking for around one foot on that. so that's not that big of a deal for the san francisco bay.

itself to expect the height of the wave, the current could cause problems there. >> all right. we have been watching some fairly large waves come in to our coastline this morning, say over the past 20 minutes, would they be any kind of a precursor to the tsunami pushing its way across the ocean this morning? >> well, the regular tidal information, we are coming down to low tide right now. the tsunami wave itself is a very long period wave. so we are going to see that occur throughout the day to a series of waves rather than just a single wave. >> so how long -- we have been talking about this warning, and we estimate it coming in around 8:00 or so. how long will this event last? do we look at 9:00 or 10:00 into the afternoon? how long should we be on alert? >> yes, the tsunami is a series of waves, so we are looking at 10 to 12 hours minimum with respect to how many waves we

could actual see throughout the day. >> will they increasingly get larger? >> the first wave may not be the largest. it usually isn't. usually it is more like the third, fourth or fifth wave to be the largest wave in a series of tsunamis. the first wave will most likely not be the largest. >> we have been talking about the tsunami -- you use the term wave, is it an actual wave or is it more like a surge of water that can kind of build up on itself? >> that's probably a better way to describe it. it is more like a surge as if like moving down a river or something like that rather than a cresting wave, it is more of a surge. that's a good description, yes. >> so are you able to see the second and third waves out at sea right now? >> well, we are looking at some of our buoys, and we are seeing the understoodlations in the buoys. yes, there are more than just that single wave. the undulations will occur for more than 12 hours, but the

range is expected for 10 to 12 hours. >> we have been hearing up in crescent city their surge is expected to be much higher, maybe even in the 9-foot range versus what we see coming through the golden gate. can you tell us why there's the discrepancy there? >> some areas are more susceptible to the larger waves. there are a few of those along our california coast. they have a focusing mechanism there in crescent city just like we have in this area more near santa cruz with a focusing mechanism there. they will see the higher waves and more inundation and stronger currents than what you may see in other areas just because of the focusing mechanism. >> when you say focusing mechanism, we are looking at what's underneath the ocean's surface or how the coastline may focus and channel the wave, is that right? >> that's correct, yes. also, the part of the ground is referred to as symmetry. >> we have had evacuations to

the coastal areas here because this is something that could last for many hours. do you an tips anticipate to tell people to stay away just to be safe? >> yes, that's correct. we want them to stay away until the all clear is given. >> all right. tom evans from the national weather service. we appreciate your time this morning. >> you're welcome. >> again, the waves are just now starting to come in. we are watching this all morning long. we expect the first waves to hit in the next few minutes. then that could continue as he mentioned over the next so 10 to 12 hours and maybe the third to fourth waves could be the strongest ones. the "today" show is coming up in a few more minutes. we'll continue to cover what's going on in and around the san francisco bay area this morning and bring you updates all morning long. >> exactly. as the situation changes, we'll bring you those continuous updates. we have interrupted the "today" show this morning to bring you these live pictures and to let you know about evacuations taking place, the centers that are open. you can also turn to nbcbayarea.com for the very

latest information. again, live pictures here, lots of people wanting to see what's going on near the coastline this morning, but stay away. it is not necessarily the wave but the current underneath. the warning here is to kind of stay away from the coastal areas because of the danger of the potential wake and then the current that's underneath. don't get out into the water. >> we have cameras spread across the northern california coastlines as well monitoring those in southern california as well. and if there are any updates, we'll break in to bring them to you. >> thank you for joining us for this special edition of "today in the bay." now we'll send you back to the "today" show. thank you for joining us this morning. have a great day.

8:00 now on the west coast on this friday morning, the 11th of march, 2011. the tsunami waves spawned by the earthquake in japan have reached the mainland. those waves expected in just a matter of minutes. matt has the day off. i think within the next five or six minutes, i guess, they're going to hit the coast as anticipated at this point. >> hopefully they will be as calm as they were in hawaii. >> minimal damage in hawaii. >> we heard they supposedly reached oregon and we don't have any reports yet if there had been any damage or not.

>> the earthquake in japan measured 8.9. the largest in japan's history. the images from japan are dramatic. hundreds have been killed, many are still missing at this hour. many have been injured. we'll tell you a problem with a cooling system at a nuclear power plant led to the evacuation of thousands of people who were nearby that nuclear power plant and just moments ago, the world nuclear association has announced that it understands the cooling cy situation is "now under control." the latest on that development in a live report. >> first, the tsunami's impact along the gulf coast. jeff is in san francisco. jeff, what is the latest? >> well, we're continuing to watch this water very, very closely back here behind me as we're under tsunami warning all the way down to the santa barbara coastline and right now you can see the water actually looking relatively calm as a whole, but this rumble on the top of the water that you can see during this low-tide event.

and i also noticed just beyond the golden gate bridge span the water seems to be breaking in a different pattern. not seeing anything in the way of any sort of large wave action that we have reportedly, possibly could have seen this two to four increase in the wave heights. we have not seen that yet right here. but one thing to remember is with this tsunami wave action that we could have coming our way, it's not just going to be something that happens this hour, it's going to be something that could last several hours into the afternoon and the evening of these higher than normal periods of waves. now, in crescent city, we heard of some of the water levels going up a little bit there. there have been some evacuations there. that is to the north of here and that is also a major area of concern where they have had histories of tsunamis in the past. that's also what we're hearing of the water levels that could go the highest, four to six feet there. in terms of things happening here in san francisco, some schools have been closed. the beaches are closed and they

are urging people to stay out of the water, not to head out here today because even though it may look calm back here behind me, it's what's underneath that water sometimes with all this force and energy that could certainly pull you under. we've also seen nobody out here in the water. but right now actually passing up over my left shoulder a coast guard helicopter likely heading out to the coastal areas to monitor this situation. a few coast guard cutter boats heading right through the golden gate pass, as well, to monitor the water levels. something they're taking very seriously here in earthquake country. as i said one time and many this morning, every second, every minute of every day here in the san francisco bay area is a time when we could potentially have a quake just as big as what they had in japan. >> you know, jeff, i want to ask you what a lot of viewers might be thinking. aren't you dangerously close to the water where you are? >> we are right near a sea wall. an area where we could certainly

go seek shelter very quickly and immediately and, you know, if it were to be too dangerous out here, at least, you know, right where we are, we would certainly be backing up even more past beyond this camera shot. but, you know, we're going to continue to monitor it out here for you and we'll do it very, very safely, of course. >> jeff, thank you very much. >> hawaiian governor is having a press conference and saying they're not taking any chances. it's stating the significant wave activity reaching inland affecting businesses. waves are coming in waves, not precisely sure of the intervals. >> this is in hawaii. which is what we were talking about. there can be over a period of hours two, three, four waves and they may be experiencing this now in hawaii. >> that's right. sometimes it takes that kind of information when there is difficulty like this to actually get translated. so, interesting to find out more

what the governor there has to say. we want to find out more, i think, about the weather. >> we'll take a look, again, explain as we take a look at the map, it gives us what the estimated times of the initial striking of the tsunami along the west coast. as you can see, already in newport, 7:26. that time is past. 8:08. this is pacific standard times. santa barbara at 8:17 santa monica at 8:31. in the tsunami warning area. we're talking about the tsunami advisory areas. again, we're continuing to track this. these are not precise times. we're going to have to keep monitoring and, again, we're talking about more than one wave possibly. >> definitely, as hawaii indicates, clearly, al, we'll get the rest of your forecast in a little while. for now, the latest on a situation in japan where hundreds are dead and missing.

ann has details. >> here are the latest numbers. in japan, 110 people confirmed dead. reports of up to 300 bodies being found in sendai. those numbers are only expected to grow. scientists say this quake 8.9 on the richter scale is the fifth biggest jolt in the world since 1900. there has been 80 aftershocks alone felt in japan since the quake first struck at mid-afternoon. it was centered some 81 miles east of the city of sendai and the northeast section of the country where some 1 million people left. the tremors were felt as far away as tokyo, some 230 miles south of sendai and disrupted a government meeting. there are fires up and down japan's northeast coast including a spectacular inferno east of tokyo. but perhaps the most devastating damage comes from tsunami.

the gigantic wall of water with waves carved a huge path of destruction. creating enormous whirlpool swamping boats and turning highways into rivers and sweeping away cars, trucks, even buildings. one of the biggest concerns, of course, is the safety of japan's many nuclear power plants. the governor declared a state of emergency southwest of sendai after its cooling system failed and evacuated some 3,000 residents who live in the area. the world nuclear association here in london says it understands that water is being pumped back into that cooling system. at this point, we have no recourse of any kind of radiation leak. however, as many as 4 million people are without power in the aftermath of the quake. meredith? >> anne, thank you very much. samantha landeux studying in tokyo and she joins us now via skype. samantha, good morning. >> good morning. >> in tokyo as you were outside

riding your bike you are more than 200 miles from where the epifor of this quake was and you saw a significant impact. what was it that you saw? >> well, i didn't really notice it as an earthquake at first. i thought that someone was beeping me with their car and then i noticed the car was moving. so, i checked to see if there was a driver and there was no driver. when i got off my bicycle i lost my balance and i looked up and i saw the building shaking. i saw the telephone poles waving as if there was a really strong wind and telephone poles here are made out of cement. i knew that was impossible. >> there have been numerous aftershocks. have you been able to feel them there in tokyo? >> it's still shaking. it's still shaking. it's been shaking since 2:45 p.m. >> and so, what is the mood then for the people in tokyo as far as you can tell? how are people dealing with this? >> well, it really depends on your situation.

i'm lucky because i was able to get home when this earthquake hit. i was really close to my house. so, i was able to get to designated evacuation center easily, but people who were in their office buildings, my friends, they can't call their families because there is no phone service. they can't e-mail because there are too many people trying to e-mail. people are walking eight hours home and buying out the convenience stores. that's what you're seeingen the news. that's what my friends are telling me is happening. >> so, a lot of people are up all night watching the news in a very, very tense circumstance. is there a sense, we just heard from anne thompson as part of her report that there was a sense that the tsunami may be, ultimately, when we figure this thing out, may actually have been more devastating than the earthquake. is that a sense you're hearing about there? >> yeah, yeah, that's what it looks like to me. the places that got hit with the tsunami, just incredible damage. there were very large cracks in

the road and there were things that fell down. there were buildings that collapsed from the earthquake. but the tsunami really just knocked everything down in its path. it's not just one tsunami, it's multiple tsunamis, multiple waves coming in. >> a lot of concern, samantha, sorry for interrupting you, about the concerns for these nuclear power plants. certainly people there have got to be very concerned. you know, we've just been reporting about how things seem to be under control, but thousands of people have been evacuated. what are people there concerned about? what are they hearing there in tokyo? >> well, we first realized it when all the pow er went out in certain areas and we couldn't contact people. my best friend is an area served by that and i couldn't contact her for hours and hours and we didn't know what happened to her. we were very worried. so, when we finally realized that it's because there are no

power plants running in certain areas, it was really frightening. it's nuclear power, you know. it's volatile. and there's also that oil refinery that's on fire. it's kind of apocalyptic when you see it on the news. >> that can't help people feel less tense about the circumstance. thank you for talking to us via skype. you stay safe, okay? >> thanks. >> description is very powerful. let's get the rest of the morning's top stories. nattily morales is at the news desk. >> good morning, everyone. wisconsin's governor is signing that controversial bill that strips employee unions of their bargaining rights. they advanced the bill on thursday organized later and democratic parting leaders will turn their wisconsin deteat into a nationwide campaign issue in the 2012 election. in libya, mogar gadhafi's

counterforces against outgunned insurgen insurgents. foreign intervention as they retreated to the fringes of an oil port that had been the scene of one of their early victories in the uprising. president obama, meantime, is the addressing the situation in libya and its impact on oil prices in a news conference today, in addition to all the latest developments in japan. keep rising gas prices from derailing the economic recovery. flooding in the northeast has claimed the life of a pennsylvania man who was swept away in his car last night. meanwhile, officials in new jersey are bracing for what could be record march flooding with major rivers still rising after a night of heavy rainfall. wounded arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords hopes to be at the launch of the next month ""endeavour" to see her husband command the last space flight. it is now 8:12. right now, let's go back to

meredith, anne and al. what an amazing event that will be. seeing her recover, as well. >> good news. >> yeah. al, you're back with some more forecast. >> as we take a look and swho todaday is concerned.as far asw we're looking outwest of another storm system coming onshore bringing more wet weather for the pacific northwest and that will happen later this afternoon. 69 in l.a. and beautiful in phoenix today, sunshine, 88, breezy in denver. we have that storm system exiting the northeast and beautiful along the gulf coast with plenty of sunshine. 88 degrees in phoenix today under sunny well, the time now is right on time for the tsunami first wave to start impacth bay area. it is now 8:13. can you see from the live picture from ocean beach it is getting more active out there.

we do want to bring to your attention, between now and the next few hours we're going to see pretty strong waves making the way towards the coastline. we want you to avoid the beaches and march renas and harbor. this is a situation that could last for ten hours but the next three will be the most intense. we'll watch this throughout the day. have a great one. aw, there's the man of the house. who's this ? this is rufus. hey, rufus. he's actually pretty talented. you wanna see him do a trick ? ok. hey rufus. who do we love ? we love our bank. we love our bank. we love our bank. we love our bank. yes, yes. you really love your bank don't you. ally bank customers love our 24/7 customer care that allows you to talk to a real person anytime. ally. do you love your bank ? ♪ good morning [ male announcer ] there are sixteen fresh-picked oranges squeezed into each carton of tropicana pure premium and absolutely no space for added sugar,

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ha! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ pigeons ] heyyy! hooo!!! we're back now at 8:18 and much more on the tsunami and the situation currently in hawaii. he joins us now by phone from honolulu. >> good morning. >> can you tell me what is going on there at this moment? >> well, right now we're kind of

in a situation where our assets have been put in a position to respond if needed. that being our aircraft. additionally, the commercial vessels in the port are not in the port any more. they were out and coordinated effort between the owners and the coast guard and other local agencies and right now we're waiting to evaluate the situation in the port. >> so, you are not out of the woods yet? at first it seemed like hawaii dodged a bullet, but that is not necessarily the case. >> no, there's still a lot to be evaluated. there's a lot of evaluation going on in state and local. the primary concern with the port is is it safe for ships to come back in? until we do a visual inspection it will remain closed. >> the waves are literally coming in in waves. is it possible to determine the

interval between them? >> not really sure. i can't speak to that. that would be something for the noaa to speak on. the coast guard is looking at the situation from a worse-case possible scenario that big waves would come in and that's why we did put these closures in place. to ensure that the safety of all the personnel operating in all those ports and also try to minimize the amount of damage that could potentially occur. >> what are you advising folks there at this point to do? >> right now, the civilians are in the population we're asking them to continue to listen to local law enforcement authorities that are giving them instructione instructions on when it's safe to return. right now we're still monitoring to see if it has subsided and monitoring the situation to see where it stands.

>> i know you're extreme lly bu there, thank you. >> thank you. and for more on the tsunami, let's bring back in ellen from miami, florida, good morning, once again. >> good morning, ann. >> just a short time ago the governor of hawaii had a news conference in which he said the tsunami warning is not over. he said the waves are coming in waves and not precisely sure of the interval. he's telling people to stay home until the warning is lifted. can you give us any clarity about what is happening here? >> unfortunately, in tsunamis, you could have the waves or sort of surges, they can be hours apart. so, if you think about the wave as it travels from the area of generation to these distant sites, it's actually a really long wave. so, there can be a lot of time between the crest of that wave. so, it could be hours. >> and how many hours up to should people who are trying to

take care of the people of hawaii be concerned about? and how big could these subsequent waves be given that these initial waves seemed not to have caused any significant damage? >> well, certainly, the emergency management people there are going to have to look at the situation as it develops and that's where the information is going to come from. you really, you know, we can't predict right now how long that is going to be because there's so many factors involved. you've got the shape of the coastline, you've got the depth of the waves traveled and you have the different sort of like mangrove or sea wall and all those things contribute to change how the actual tsunami impacts the shore and how each of those sort of pulses of water are going to act. so, it's a really tough call. >> so, the difficulty has been that we've been trying to warn people about what we, about the potential of this, but we don't want to cause them undo concern and in this particular case, we

don't know everything, so, it's probably better simply to be very cautious. all right. i think we just lost our signal el tery much for joining us. wee back rig afterer this. [ female announcer ] your skin is the first

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we're just getting word from the state department if you know someone in japan and you are concerned and you have not heard from them, the phones very busy and hard to get through. the state department is giving you a phone number that you can call, 1-888-407-4747 and there's also an e-mail address and that's japanemergencyusc@state.gov. >> we're going to post that on our website. we're back with the latest on the tsunami and the

earthquake in japan. good morning to you, it is 8:26. we continue to follow a breaking news, a tsunami warning for the entire west coast. we have several live looks outside. this is a live look at ocean beach. i'm surprised anyone is out there this morning, not huge swells we're expecting, but still a lot of people have moved to higher land. >> a live look as well at the marine headlands and we're watching the waves come on shore there. >> at pacifica we're seeing the white waves move into that area. 're watching we're wating to see the surges

into the area. we have more weather and traffic after the break. you've got a strawberry pop-tart,

but i've got a warm, fresh baked strawberry toaster strudel. see the difference? mmmm. i do. (announcer) pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. good morning, welcome back. i wanted to point something out that i've heard from a couple of reporters both in crescent city and also heard from a reporter now in the santa cruz area. you see what's happening here in ocean beach. you see the water going back out, almost as if it's receding, that's exactly what's happening. i have the same situation happening in crescent city and santa cruz as the waves are building up.

we are starting to see our first effects from the tsunami wave in places like crescent city, on the way to the bay area. we're under the gun time right now and we have mandatory evacuations in place. good morning to you, mike. >> highway 92 is jammed from half moon bay towards 280. also the great highway closed and access to the beaches along san francisco. slow on 880, folks are avoiding coastngeneral. we'reooking atb.a.r.t., no lianges or delays here. a lvek out from the chopper. we'll continue to watch that. the "today" show is coming up. [ ryan ] i got this new citi thankyou card and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. [ ryan ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ so i used mine, to get a whole new perspective.

♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. 8:30 pacific time on this friday morning, march 11th, 2011. you are looking at a remarkable image, that is a boat off the coast of japan caught in the eye of a whirlpool created by the earthquake and it's devastated parts of that country overnight. >> looks like the perfect storm. >> it really does. >> unbelievable. i'm meredith vieira along with ann curry and al roker. they're still determining that,

but 8.9 earthquake. the worst they've ever seen and that was followed by the tsunami waves up to 33 feet high. several hundred bodies found in northeast japan, 200 to 300, more than 100 others confirmed dead. at least 350 people still missing and more than 50 aftershocks in japan. >> registering 6.0. >> pretty devastating to watch this image. you're looking at the tsunami hitting parts of japan and moving as fast as a jumbo jet. reports that these things can move at something like 500 miles per hour. >> they can travel a real distance because of that. >> the waves generated by the tsunami are hitting california. jeff ranieri is in california. good morning. >> good morning, meredith. we're continuing to watch the water behind me. we are in a low-tide psychoal and the water really doesn't look too much different than an average day here in san francisco, but, as we've already

heard, some of this higher wave action already hitting portions of oregon and moving to the south. we are under tsunami warning from that washington/oregon coastline down to santa barbara. one thing of note here that i just noticed over the past half hour is noaa and the tsunami warning center has issued a tsunami warning for inland locations in what's called our north bay. that would include napa, san rafael also santa rosa and that's because we have lot of rivers and streams that make up the bay area and some of this water that could be inundating from the bay into these rivers and streams could actually rise. some of these areas that are inland. if you're in napa, santa rosa and you have a river or stream near you, it's time to watch those. one thing that al has been pointing out all morning long and it's important to remember is that while we're talking

about periods of arrivals for the waves like 8:08 right here in san francisco, not just that time and we're done with it. it's for possibly several hours out from that that we will continue to see this higher than normal wave activity and wave height that could be two to four feet. the most critical area we continue to hear about where the waves could be the highest is crescent city, which is to the north where they have also had some evacuations and, also, evacuations to the south in santa barbara. so, we'll continue to watch this water back here behind us. even though it is low tide and not a lot of, you know, waves happening. i will say there is kind of this unique rumble just on the surface of the water and, you know, it could be a sign of some of this energy that is expected to continue to head our way through tonight. >> jeff, you make a very important point that it's not just one wave crashing onshore. it could be several waves over a long period of time. people have to remain vigilant.

thank you so much. al joins us now and he has been tracking the tsunami, as well. al, what is the latest as it moves against the west coast? >> the thing we were most concerned about, we were hearing from a press conference from the hawaiian government that they have reports of waves moving inland and up to a mile inland and that's causing a real concern and some damage to some businesses and that's kind of indicating that we are seeing more than one wave. that we are, in fact, seeing a series and that could not, that could cause some problems as we look from hawaii to the west coast up the united states. we're talking about 23 to 2,500 miles depending on where you are along the coast and that means right now we are, we should be seeing some more arrivals of the initial wave but, again, we're going to continue to track this as it happens. we're seeing that, again, it doesn't mean it won't happen later on. especially as we get towards noon along the california coast,

that's when high tide hits. if you have another wave coming onshore, that's when you can see more damage. >> important to prepare for the worst. this is not over yet. nbc anne thompson joins us now. anne? >> meredith, we have new numbers on the missing and dead and these numbers come from the government sponsor broadcast nhk in japan and here they are. they say there's 500 people missing at this hour. 300 dead and among the problems, the many problems japan is facing, the earthquake broke a dam in the prefecthur and it has washed away homes. there are trains that have derailed and ports that have just been turned into these giant whirlpools where you can see boats swirling around in them being sucked into the vortex. it is just an incredible scene. there are also reports in tokyo

of tens of thousands of people just wandering sort of tdazed i the streets because life has come to a halt in tokyo in the aftermath of this earthque and tsunami. japan, as you may know, is very reliant on nuclear power and the government has declared a state because there was a problem at one nuclear power plant. it's cooling, it stopped taking in the fluid it needs to clear reactor. they are still evacuating residents around that reactor. we're told about some 3,000 people but we understand from an international nuclear agency that that cooling, that water has gone back into the cooling system and is now starting to cool things down. but good news is, is that there has been no reports of radio active or radio active leaks anywhere in japan. but because of the earthquake, much of the power is out in that country. more than 4 million people are without power.

but it is just anenormous, enormously destructive event that has happened in this country. the government is urging its people to keep calm and says it is doing everything it can to try and get a recovery system going. there has been offers of aid or there are offers of aid from all around the world. the united nations, the u.s. government and the u.s. navy says it is mounting what it describes as a massive humanitarian response. to help japan cope with this destruction. meredith? >> you know, anne, people in hawaii and along the west coast here in this country had a certain number of hours to prepare for this tsunami. they were warned before it hit land. in japan, can you give us a sense of the timeline there between the when earthquake struck and when the tsunami hit? >> meredith, i'm not exactly sure what the time delay was. we do know that the quake hit

about 2:46 in the afternoon. but, look, people in japan are used to these, are very well prepared for earthquakes. japan sits on what is called a ring of fire, some active volcanoes. so, they have, they have all kinds of earthquakes. most of them, obviously, much less severe than this. so, they are prepared. they know what to do. but, still, when you see those pictures of that water come crushing through, you realize there's nothing you can do. you can't outrun it. it's just so powerful. the water itself is powerful and then when you think of all the debris it picks up and the cars and the homes and the trucks and the bridges, nothing, nothing could withstand it. it has just been an amazing scene. >> all right, anne thompson, thank you very much. the president and secretary of state have already expressed their condolences to japan for what they're enduring. we're going to make a turn now, the president is speaking at 12:30 eastern time. >> in a previously scheduled

news conference but he'll talk about this topic and we'll take a turn now and talk about the forecast because it is coming up on the weekend. >> as we look at the weekend and show you what's going on along the west coast looking at rain in the pacific northwest. tomorrow sunny skies for much of california and the southwest. beautiful weather in the mid-plains on into the southeast, as well. and on sunday, we've got more rain and the strong winds northern california into the pacific northwest. sunny and warm through the southwest into the gulf coast. showers in the mid-mississippi river valley and eastern great lakes looking at light snow. that you are look at a live picture of ocean beach. we're actually watching a phenomenon that often happens as a tsunami approaches. you see the waters rush out and expose the shallow sea floor. the crest will deluge the exposed land. thgs a press curser, a sign of what's to come. we're expecting one and a half

foot waves up to 3 feet in santa cruz. >> that's your latest weather. meredith? >> al, thank you. we're back in a moment. this is "today" on nbc. my diet? well yesterday i had an apple turnover.

i know it's sort of my weakness. i always keep it in the house. well, that and boston crème pie, white chocolate strawberries, and mmm key lime pie. yeah, i've already lost some weight. [ female announcer ] yoplait light -- over 30 delicious flavors at about 100 calories. babe, what are you doing?! ♪ [ female announcer ] the yoplait you love, now in a 4-pack. try it today.

time. we want to bring you up to date about a story we have been telling you about the mysterious murder of a young bride. she drowned on a honeymoon scuba dive on australia's great barrier reef. australian authorities have determined that her husband should stand trial for murdering his bride. he pled guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter and pled 18 months in an australian prison. watson is back home now in alabama, but his troubles are far from over. dennis murphy has details. >> reporter: gabe watson has pleaded not guilty to the

charges. alabama prosecutors say they intend to use the same witness as presented in an australian court and one may turn out to be a star witness. he is an american doctor who was on a different dive boat than tina and gabe watson. in the eyewitness he gave, he recalled seeing two divers, one clearly a woman. >> the waterer was very clear, but we were close enough, i could see her face. >> reporter: the couple was beneath him to his left, about 20 feet away. he spoke of them as diver number one and diver number two. >> the diver one, there's no doubt in your mine. >> reporter: diver number one was horizontal looking up. they made eye contact. >> that was the surface to water. she would have been on her back with her arms out like this and moving her arms like she was in distress with the look of fear on her face. >> reporter: then diver number two came into view. >> he came to her and came sort of on top of her, put his arms

around her. >> reporter: could you tell where his hand placement was when he was facing her or on top of her? >> i recall his hands being around her back. >> reporter: he observed them together, he says, for about 30 seconds. >> and then they split apart. he went to the surface real quickly. and she went to the bottom. and she had a look of panic on her face. when they separated and he went to the surface and she sank. >> reporter: police divers in australia re-created the moment described by the american doctor. they were testing a theory of foul play. face-to-face, would the male diver have been able to reach around to turn off the air supply on the other's tank. in the murder scenario, tina would quickly have lost consciousness and, if gabe had momentarily lost his grib on her, as the theory continues, he knew that he had to turn her air supply back on so it would later

be found in working order, otherwise, how would he explain a air tank turned off. is that what the doctor from the other dive boat saw? gabe swimming down to tina and turning her valve back on? >> it's a theory. the only thing they could think of. >> reporter: gabe watsowatson's defense attorney. >> there's no evidence whatsoever. no one that saw him turning her hair on or off. >> reporter: what happened to tina watson on the great barrier reef? it's now before an american court. >> and that was dennis murphy and you can see more of dennis' report on a special "dateline" tonight on 8:00, 9:00. we

good morning, everybody, a live look from santa cruz of what appears to be a whirl pool affecting a lot of vessels and boats and things down in santa cruz today. >> we're really keeping an eye on it because of course the tsunami warning that is in effect all along the california coastline this morning because of an 8.9 earthquake that hit japan earlier. we saw the effects over hawaii and now we're waiting on stand by what's going to happen here in northern california. >> again, these live pictures from the harbor in santa cruz. we understand that one boat broke free this morning. we talked to experts earlier and they told us different places along the california coast would see different effects. crescent city maybe a 9 foot swell, but did mention that santa cruz could see a larger

impact than some of the other places, more on the line of what crescent city was seeing. it depends on makeup of the land underneath the ocean. again, we're thinking that maybe as the tsunami reached this area and created those bizarre current there was this whirl pool effect and broke boats loose. >> we've seen changes at ocean beach as well with the waves getting larger. they are not expecting to be extremely large but as a precaution, some areas have been evacuated like pacifica. we're keeping an eye on to give you a different view of what's going on along the northern california coastline. >> there have been a lot of preparations because people don't know exactly what to expect. this is an evolving situation and so they've taken a lot of precautions just in case. we want to check in with marla tellez live at the department of emergency management, the place making the battle plans so to

speak. >> reporter: the folks who work inside here have been very busy. they are manning the phones inside and checking out the latest computer models. i just got an update from the deputy director and tells me that those models have not changed much. he has not seen much activity along the coastline as far as we concerned. also, i can tell you that the san francisco police chief just arrived moments ago, stepped inside to get briefed for his department. the bottom line is no evacuations are in place for the city of san francisco. the national park service has closed the beaches here and the great highway is also closed. about an hour ago the mayor of san francisco briefed us about san francisco's overall preparedness. ultimate ultimately ed lee is confident the city is prepared for the emergency. he doesn't think the waves will go up and over the sea walls. >> we experience a different type of geography than say

crescent city. up in crescent city they do have a different wave action and they will experience probably 8 to 9 feet of waves in that area near the border of california. we will not and do not expect to receive that kind of wave action here in the bay area. that continues to be the case. we have not called for an evacuation but we stand ready. >> reporter: mayor lee says the city has extra police and fire officials disbursed throughout the city this morning as a precautionary measure. he is also urging people just to stay away from the active coastline. live in san francisco, marla tellez, "today in the bay". >> let's take you back to santa cruz. look at the live pictures, we were talking about the different ways we could see the tsunami take effect during the coastline. some of those boats are completely overturned. >> one of the weird things that we're trying to sort out is this kind of whirl pool situation.

what we think is happening is there's a low tide so if you will, the water is sucking out of the harbor and at the same time the tsunami is coming in and the wave stacks up. look at that. we've seen boats break free. this one is going under water before our eyes this morning. these are the kinds of things you don't know exactly what to expect. >> like a little whirlpool effect in front of your eyes. >> it's tragic for the people who own this boat there. i hope nobody is on board there, but in the harbor in santa cruz, we're seeing some very bizarre activity here and some of these boats just kind of being suced out to sea. >> which is interesting because others remain secured to the dock. >> it may not be necessarily how much does the water rise but some of the weird currents. this is why a lot of beaches are closed this morning. don't go out in the water because we have these bizarre

current. you think i'm going to go out and surf or something, not a good idea. these boats are being sucked out. >> people on the bridge watching trying to stay away from a safe distance. the water on top looks relatively calm but you don't know what the undertow is like and what is happening underneath. >> kind of gives you a sense of power of the current because you can tell by how quickly the boats are moving that they are literally being sucked away out of the harbor. they broke away from their moring. i don't know how many boats are affected. we're watching these two but i don't know how much could be affected -- >> some are getting pulled along. >> could have collided with each other in the harbor itself too. >> it is pretty amazing to see. i believe that we're trying to get the harbor master possibly on the phone to hopefully explain what they've been seeing there. we've been monitoring a lot of different areas of the bay area

coastline this morning. saw a few more white caps and what not. look how people are gathered to see what's going on. >> if you were just to look at the water, it doesn't look like that big of a deal but -- >> it's kind of pulling it along there and sucking it out and then the potential damage if it collides with the other boats, they could suffer damage. >> it's interesting because it kind of shows what we don't know about what we could possibly see. look at it skid across these other boats. >> it was bizarre, they had video on the "today" show of that massive whirlpool at the epicenter in japan. it looked like the eye of a hurricane, so powerful in circulating in. >> and boat getting wrapped along that. >> we're watching live pictures from the santa cruz harbor. santa cruz might feel a little stronger effect from the tsunami than we did in the san francisco bay, for example. >> well and exactly the topography of the land underneath. >> here's another one.

>> oh, my goodness they are pulling -- >> slamming into it. >> which may be a good thing for that boat if it gets pinned and doesn't continue to flow out. >> some of the people most likely trying to -- >> unsure of their boats at the same time to do what they can. dangerous situation. you know, it's not what possibly people thought they would envision when you think tsunami, you're thinking huge waves and what not. it shows the power of the current. >> that's why the office of emergency services in san francisco is looking at so many different scenarios. they say it's overkill. this is why. there's other extenuating circumstances and you don't know what's going to unfold. here you go, boats being sucked into the harbor. >> very interesting. >> i don't know what caused the one to cap size, i don't know further up back in there how the current was going. it looked -- we got a brief glimpse of what appeared to be a

whi whirl pool in a circular motion. here you have it here. >> the water looks so calm up on top. >> that's why people are saying stay out of the water. one of the emergency officials in orange county we're talking about the beaches closed down there. we got the report from our sister station and they are saying the surface doesn't look that bad but it's what is under the surface we're worried about. again, we're panning back into the harbor, we're looking for other damage -- >> there's a bunch there that look like they could have damage. way back up in the harbor back there. but, again, some of the ramifications of the tsunami as it moves along the west coast this morning. >> very interesting. we've got cameras all along the coastline. calm here but further north up in crescent city, they are actually expecting those waves of 8 to 9 feet in fact, kind of

what you more so typically would think of with what we've seen with the pattern of tsunamis in the past. >> this is in santa cruz, the pictures you're looking at live. >> some of the boats clustered together just broken free because of the strength of that suction as it pulls it out. this could go on for a few hours. we talked to another expert who said that initial wave will hit a little bit after 8:00 but it's going to happen in waves over 10 to 12 hour-period. sometimes the third or fourth wave are the more strong waves. >> the buildup that happens. >> it's something that, okay, we're approaching 9:00, you initially heard that 8:09 is when we would see the effects of the tsunami but it's not one big huge wave that's going to come and envelope the land. it could build up over time and take on different kind of circumstances there. depending on where it comes in. this is very interesting see the

effects over santa cruz. >> that is a piece of maybe a dock that's floating. it looks like maybe it's a piece of the dock maybe that's broke. might you know what that is. it is on top of something. you see the boat there on top of maybe a dock or something and. a lot of damage potentially here in the santa cruz harbor as we watch the pictures. the aftermath of the 8.9 earthquake that shook japan earlier and the wave has been prop gating across the ocean. >> we have some warning, we've been telling you all morning long, once the tsunami hit and they had so much aftershocks to try to recover from. we've had time to kind of prepare and get people away from areas and try to warn people

about what's coming. think about what they had to deal with in japan. there was virtually no warning and huge waves and took boats and slammed them up into overpasses. 200 to 300 people believed killed and so many others missing. it's quite destructive. >> let's check in right now, we have seth borat on the phone. he is a witness to what's going on. can you hear us? >> yeah. >> what's going on there? we're watching the boats be sucked out of the harbor. >> right now as i'm speaking, the water is surging back in and going in and out, right now it's breathing back in. we have a random boat floating around but multiple boats that have actually sunk. a couple of them are upside down. >> were you there when this happened? i'm hoping if you were there, if you can describe how it is that an upright boat got upside down and turned over and capsized. >> apparently, very close

together and the way things are moving around, apparently they are crashing into oech other and large pieces of debris are washing through. there's a large dredging pipe that is going back and forth across the mouth of the harbor. that might be part of what's knocking these guys over. >> where are you right now? what's your vantage point? >> right at the harbor there's a road that crosses over and i'm on the inland side. boats are sunk on both sides. >> we saw a lot of people lined up watching what's happening. it looks like such an interesting phenomenon. we're looking at it from a bird's eye view from above. it's interesting now we're able to see more of the current moving things along there. before it looked so quiet on surface but almost like a suction going on. >> look at the current behind the boats. >> you can see how strong it is,

how powerful the current is, to give you a sense of what's going on there. seth mentioned he's on the road. we saw people looking at what's going on. do you have a sense for how many boats have been impacted? >> have you counted them up? >> not counting damage from small time damage, i counted five or six that are actually sinking. and i think there's one that might be wandering out the mouth of the harbor all by itself. >> we're watching that. we've seen two or three boats make their way out because the current is sucking them right out to the open ocean. >> yeah and right now it's sucking back in. >> isn't that something? have you seen emergency personnel? i haven't seen any emergency crews, anybody trying to get out there to either help the boats and we have no idea whether or not any people might be involved. do you see any emergency crews?

>> oddly enough, i don't see any emergency crew from where i'm standing. some of the boat eners are out here trying to make sure their boats are safe. i've seen one or two people with an orange or yellow vest on, i don't know what they were from but they seem to have left. at this point there aren't any emergency crew here we're waiting to see what happened. >> they are letting people have access to the docked boats? >> yeah, there's one road to get in there really, but you can park in other places and walk down. people that need to walk to the boats can reach them. >> the interesting thing is that this doesn't appear that this harbor was closed or shutdown and people are able -- you go down to get your boat, do not fall off the dock because the suction on this thing is powerful as we watch that. >> the suction is very powerful and more powerful than it appears from the top. but i don't know if there's a way to shut this down unless

they are out there sitting there blocking the traffic coming in and out. >> i'm looking at the edge of the shore here. do you notice whether or not the water level or higher than normal or is it mostly normal water level but strong current? >> right. the water level is a little bit higher, it has been higher and might have been higher earlier this morning. i'm not sure but i can see there's debris that normally would be dry. it is kind of floating down in the water because the water level has gone down. the tide comes in and keeps breathing in and out. >> it's kind of going in and out. the tide -- we're at a low tide. as we mentioned, the tsunami surge is coming in so they are opposing forces and that's where you're getting the current from. >> so interesting. it has to be heartbreaking for the boat owners out there as well. >> you see this dock and it looks like a part of the dock has broken away.

it looks like it's not connected anymore. >> the force to pull that boat up there like that. >> you mentioned something about a drainage pipe or something? >> caller: they built this harbor the wrong way back in the day and it actually naturally fills itself up and clogs itself every so many years if they don't dredge it. so there's one dredging pipes but they are floating around on their float and blocking boats. >> a future problem for the harbor itself. >> we're watching the boats here but we're worried about people, have you seen any people that have been hurt because of this? >> doesn't look like there have been any injuries that we can see. the boats are kind be into each other. if you have a boat and down there, might not want to be climbing around on your boat at this point because binging around a lot. >> again, it's weird to say another boat where the back end is down in the water and it

looks like some kind of top is coming off there and probably will fill up with water and cap size as well. >> it's weird how they can turn upsidedown. at this point you see them bouncing back and forth and there's possibly moving around they got a damage of some sort in the hull and started sinking, that might make more sense. >> thank you very much, seth for joining us this morning, kind of giving us a bird's eye view as we look at these incredible pictures. >> i was looking at the choppers panning around, not only of the destruction here, we're not seeing anybody from the emergency services there right now. >> right now we want to check in with tom evans from the national weather service. we talked to him earlier in the day. want to see what he's learning about the conditions out at sea. >> good morning. >> what's new? >> we actually have the

tsunami -- first wave of the tsunami arrive, we have seen a couple of those surges come through with 3 to 5 feet between the peak and trough of the surges. >> can you tell us, we were talking earlier about why in crescent city they were looking at more impact than the san francisco bay. but we mentioned that the santa cruz area could see a little bit more of a surge or more impact than the san francisco area and we're watching this in the santa cruz harbor, still have the pictures up right now, boats are being sucked out. why is it that the santa cruz harbor would be more impacted than we are in the san francisco bay? >> they have a focusing mechanic mix there, the bathymetry focuses more and the harbors are seeing the strong current which is pulling the boats back and forth causing them to break loose. >> we're watching them -- here goes another one underneath the

underpass. >> horrible. >> it really is tough to watch. i can't imagine being the boat owners but we've seen several. there are five or six that have cap sized. >> can you tell by the pictures that the current is very strong. you can actually see from aerial shots, it looks like a river flowing. >> that's what it will do in the harbors, very strong current, ebb and flow. >> you mentioned 10 to 12 hours, do we see a continual thing or maybe it calms down and see another surge? how does it typically go? >> we usually will see the surges and then they'll usually get a little lower and could increase later on in the day. it's going to be a long term thing. we're looking at many hours where we'll see the stronger surges and then they'll come down and get stronger again. >> talk a little built about the dynamics that happened to be in place. we've got a low tide and for

lack of better description the water kind of ebbing back in the ocean and you have the tsunami pushing the water in so you have the sucking out combined with the flow in and how that works. >> the tsunami is on top of what is already there in this case, the ebb current. the dominant feature is the tsunami is what you're seeing. you're not seeing much in the way of the normal tidal influence. >> very interesting stuff as we continue to watch this. tom, we appreciate you joining us again live this morning. >> all right. now we want to turn to mike mcclellan, the manager of the crow's nest down in the santa cruz area. mike are you there and seeing what we're seeing live on air? >> pardon me. >> what's going on? what are you seeing this morning? >> caller: it's a bright sunny day and lovely out and we're seeing a surge that's coming in

the harbor here comes in and goes out probably up and down two or three feet and but no big waves to speak of and no danger to speak of. >> but it's taking the boats with it. we are seeing, we have a te helicopter up above and boats being pulled -- crashing into each other and some are capsizing. are you seeing that? >> we had one boat that actually got real lucky and floated in and floated out and then the vessel assist came and towed it away. i understand there's damage in the upper harbor. where we are right now overlooking the ocean and the jetty, everything is looking fine. >> which is good to here there. >> it's a spectator sport here right now. >> i'm telling you right now there's significant damage and several vessels are cap sized and upside down and several

others being sucked out and slamming into each other. where you are it may be one story, the video we're seeing now. within a couple of seconds they are going to crash. there it goes. >> hard to watch. >> yeah, it's just a weird phenomenon depending on where you are, one place not seeing much action and the next place in the harbor here where we're looking it's crazy. >> thanks so much, mike. we want to check in with danielle dawson. are you on upper harbor or lower part of the harbor? daniel, are you there? >> hello. >> danielle are you still there? we're trying to sort out phone calls, you can see people kind of lining up. people want to get a save spot to view what possibly a tsunami

can look like. it's an interesting phenomenon. at the upper santa cruz harbor, it's not the big tsunami wave that you would expect but we had heard there there could be interesting phenomenon going on because of the topography. >> and the way it sucks in and out. tom evans says the tsunami fen on men on has overridding what should be happening with the tides. in this particular case we're seeing really strong current. if the boats weren't tied down tight enough, they are pulling them out. here's a rescue boat. mike mentioned where he was near the crow's nest, he did see harbor folks get out and capture a boat. here i haven't seen any rescue people at all at this point. i haven't seen any emergency personnel out there either manage the crowds or -- no yi

don't know what they can do at this point but i haven't seen anyone. >> danielle dawson is from aldo's restaurant. what are you seeing? >> caller: can you ask me again? >> describe what you see. >> caller: right now i'm standing at aldo's restaurant at santa cruz, we've seen the harbor water drain out and the boats sitting in the sand and knocking off and a few boats have come loose and floated back and forth. we have a big dredger that blocked them out of the harbor so anything can get in and out. >> we're seeing that live right now. >> caller: we have a boats have come loose and docks have come loose. i saw an upside down boat floating past a couple minutes ago. >> look at that. we're watching a boat sink right now. >> caller: that must be the one i saw go by. >> you must be close -- in the background of your phone i can

hear the chopper you're close to the picture. >> caller: i'm by the mouth of harbor. the police lady is yelling at me. >> trying to move people out? >> caller: i'm sorry. i can't hear you. >> what are the police saying? >>. >> caller: they've got caution tape and want us to move back up the hill. if you don't have a boat in the harbor, they don't want anyone down here. i work at the restaurant so they are not harassing me too much but there's a lot of onlookers who are curious. >> i should point out that we just got word that the village area is closed as well. they are starting to see some effects there and want to take precautionary measures and keep people out of the way. you can see it's a dangerous situation. the current here is more like a river than it is a bay. >> yeah, that's exactly what it looks like here. i saw a duck floating by, it's the fastest duck i had ever seen. >> i bet. 6600 people have been evacuated so far in the santa cruz area as

a precaution. it looks like we see people on a kind of a overhang -- overhas there trying to look. are you seeing a lot of people out there? >> there are quite a few people out. the police keep moving everyone so they keep trying to find another location to look at. there are various places you can see the ocean from this area. >> are you seeing anybody from the harbor? have you heard any kind of plan to get out there and maybe stop the boats, is it too dangerous to do that? >> caller: i don't see anyone doing that. i think what they are doing to be safe is waiting until this warning is over then i'm sure they'll go and fix all of the damage. but it's better not to try to fix it until after its finished. >> i think there's so much that have broken free it might be dangerous to get out in there and some of these boats keep going downstream so to speak and ramming into other boats. here's another one that broke free. >> i saw a piece of dock slam

into a nice looking yacht. a lot of roads were closed and i had to go around a few signs and i heard one lady on her phone who had a phone call from half moon bay saying the water had sucked out there as well. >> we saw a lot of people leaving the half moon bay area trying to get out and get to higher land. so the restaurant where you work and other ones surrounding there, you remain open? >> caller: not open at the moment. we'll open as soon as we're allowed to. our restaurant is sitting on a dock on the harbor. we're not allowed in there at the moment. >> play itself yourself, danielle. >> can i just say my thoughts are out to all of the people in japan and i hope minimum damage is done and pray for all of them. >> you share your sentmentes with so many of us. >> have a good day. >> play it safe out there.

my goodness, it is honestly very fascinating to watch as it passes through the santa cruz upper harbor there. i'm sure heartbreaking to watch for boat owners out there, some of which have capsized before our very eyes. >> every now and then you get pieces of dock that have broken freen 'some boats being sucked out to the mouth of the harbor. they say it goes back and forth and they get sucked out and then sucked back in. >> look at this one, they are trying to tow the boat. >> looks like a fishing crew trying to harness. trying to read the boat and see if that's a coast guard or harbor vessel, they are trying to coral one that has gotten out into open water there. >> we'll keep our eye on what's happening there. in the meantime we want to check in with kristi smith.

look now there are more people behind you trying to watch, look at the tsunami as it comes in. >> it is quite a sight. at one point there were maybe 40 or 50 people up here looking down at the water. and at this point, we've been talking with folks who have lived here for maybe 30 or 40 years and what they are telling us, nothing as dramatic as santa cruz, we're seeing water roll way back, maybe 300 feet or so, then within a minute or two it's back up. people who live here tell us it normally doesn't act like this. you're seeing folks out here with cameras and what not watching it. earlier we saw people packing up and evacuating, just not sure what was going to happen. there are some school kids out here who were out today and told me they consider this sort of a snow day, a day to just come out and watch water. one of people who has lived here for quite some times is doug

rhodes. tell us what you're seeing here. >> although it is 0.9 low tide now, what we saw earlier was a good 200 yards recession of water really quick. and that's the first time i've seen that in 40 years here, to see it that quick. that was dramatic for me. >> this was lynn mar beach. what would it normally look like? >> there would be about 80 people surfing if the cops had closed the road. there's a good wave for riding. >> we grew up here, lived here for 40 years so -- >> along those lines, been here for quite some time. i wanted to show you a picture, this is the kind of thing they

are used to. this happened in 1982 where we're standing. this is doug's home behind that big wave here. what he's saying is that this happened in an el nino year so he actually had to do work on the home to reinforce it and what not. he wasn't sure what to expect out here but it is quite a sight because i'm not out here very often but you can tell that the water is behaving in a quite unusual way. we'll keep an eye on it and check back in a little bit. >> it's a good reminder too, folks talk about getting in the water. from what we're seeing in santa cruz, it is deceptive, the current is so powerful, you don't want to get anywhere near that. good idea to stay away and watch from where you are. >> absolutely. at this point you can't even get there. the police are blocking the entrances to the beaches. you can't get there from here. >> stay safe out there. jeff ranieri has been out all

night long at the golden gate bridge, getting ready, he's been assisting the "today" show as well giving them updates as what's going on. so many curious about what's happening along the northern california coastline. >> what a difference from where he is and -- >> look by alcatraz, that's in the bay but that's what you're used to seeing in the ocean. the waves come in and what not, that strange undercurrent shows how dangerous the tsunami could be. >> that's a good education for all of us. when you think tsunami, you think this massive wave coming through. >> you saw that in sumatra and that happened. in this case we're talking about this weird current. we're seeing a little bit of a surge, a feet, maybe 3 feet worth of surge. >> this is under the golden gate bridge, to give you a different

vantage point along the coast and what not along the northern california coastline. very interesting, very interesting to watch. >> right now we want to check in as well with christina, she's been watching this and we've been talking about the different surge -- >> pattern. >> the word we're going to use here, the surge of this thing. >> that's the word of the day, surge. what we were witnessing in santa cruz just now, you saw it was virtually calm on the surface but you saw the picture of alcatraz and golden gate bridge, it is very turbulent under the water. we're talking about thousands of gallons of water displaced and waves traveling at 500 miles per hour under water. so that's all triggered by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of japan. for us, if we can take the santa cruz live picture again, this is a typical fen nom men a that we

see, the waters rush out after the wave, the sue ny rush out b it and expose the shallow sea floor. next step, this is what we're expecting now, the crest will come in and start to move over the shore. this is kind of a warning sign of the waves that will rise and potentially flood the shoreline here. we're really watching it for you. this is not something that's going to happen all at once. you think of a tsunami is one giant wave that crashes and it's over. this is something that will happen all throughout the day with the next three hours possibly bringing in the strongest wave. now i know a lot of people have been trying to evacuate and that is creating a mess on the local roadways, thank goodness mike inouye has been covering that for you. how is it looking? >> we had the friday light overall but let's show you the maps. traffic flow very smoothly on

280 and 101. i have marked there the ee vak congestion, evacuation from the coast. highway 1 and folks were heading towards 92 towards 35 and 280. we have video from the chopper taken earlier this morning. if we can get the video pulled here, these are folks parked on the side of the road highway 35. they have been parked there since very early, about 6:30 when we saw folks really starting to fully pack through the area as they evacuated from the coast. so many people there and been there for a number of hours no. three or four hours for a lot of people. the department of transportation will bring port-a-potties out there to 92 and -- >> so many people. >> taking care of folks. safety is a big concern as folks have to evacuate to higher ground and the summit over the santa cruz mountains, one of the areas you can consider higher. we've seen kids and folks

walking alongside the freeway too. just be careful as you're driving. this is earlier video of the evacuation heading towards higher ground. we'll take you to the map. the highway is still closed and jeff and kristi, you have been talking about the closure and folks not allowed to get to the beaches. locals will try to surf and we don't want that. safety sake first, be careful and watch for closures between point lobe os. >> we're watching b.a.r.t. because the system was on alert. as everybody avoids the coast, some folks were staying clear of that side of the bay and we see a heavier volume of traffic. made a little worse by an ea earlier accident at high street. this is a heavier flow than friday. a lot of folks are completely avoiding that side of the bay and trying to stay over towards the east bay and avoid any other

problems. staying inland. we're lookint athe.a b.r.t. service and there are no interruptions. the reason we keep b update, th b.a.r.t. system between oakland and san francisco there's a tunnel, the trans bay tunn,tu reo t the bottom of the ocean and o talked about under the surface of the water there's a lot going on there, enough to pull the boats out of the harbor. so far no issues. we'll continue to monitor that and an'rch watgin what happens in crescent city as an indicator as to what might happen here as well. >> thank you very much for this report. >> these are live pictures from the white house. we're expecting the president is going to speak. it was a previously scheduled speech he was going to have today. no doubt he was going to be talking about what happened in japan and sadly all of lives that have been lost there. >> we already know he has expressed his condolences

through a written statement and pledged to assist all they he can. we know the pentagon has sent out shipses to japan as well and know as many as 300 people have been found in the northeastern part of japan where the epicenter was. it was an 8.9 earthquake and they have had as many 50 aftershocks there. there are 500 people still missing, more than 600 injured. the president will address that coming up in five more minutes. in the meantime, as a result of the earthquake, we have a tsunami alert that happened quickly thereafter destroying so much of the land in japan. but then it moved on to 50 other country possibly were affected. we saw the effects in hawaii. this is the santa cruz harbor where we're seeing the boats kind of being capsized and

overturned. up on the dock, a strange f phenomen phenomenon. >> the associated press issued a small craft advisory for the santa cruz area until 3:00 saturday afternoon. we've been talking about the tsunami effects going to be felt here for a long time. it doesn't just come in as a wave an gone. it's going to be over a 10 to 12-hour period, the national weather service also told us a short time ago that this tsunami effect is kind of overriding what would be the natural tides so that's a little different. these are live pictures from our chopper kind of moving location as they pan around there, we can also tell you that we've been told the capitola village is closed this morning in the santa cruz area. it's not safe. you see the big waves and everything, but the current underneath may even be a bigger story. it's dangerous to get out there. you're seeing this massive rip

tide effect. now it's going out to a pier in the santa cruz bay this morning. i don't know if they've gotten word of some type of damage there or what's going on right there. we'll have to check out this shot coming up for you in a little bit if we can get more information. stay away from the beaches, if you can. most law enforcement is out there and closing down the beaches. >> we talked to somebody who works down there near the santa cruz upper harbor, you could hear the police trying to tell people, if you don't have ai boat here, move away. you're seeing people on overpasses trying to get a glimpse of whatever they can. the main thing is to play it safe. nothing is worth it. >> we're looking at some type of barge here. i don't know if that's out there anyway or been brought in. we did see that there was a dredge barge in the santa cruz harbor that broke loose.

that is damaged. we do know there are some pieces of equipment, besides the boats that have been damaged in the tsunami. >> actually, we mentioned how police chp are trying to keep people away. on the phone, officer jackson is joining us. what are you telling people right now? officer jackson, are you there? >> caller: yes, you're breaking up a little bit. as far as people creating traffic hazards, i would urge them not to do that. let's not take a situation and make it worse than it is. i need people to remain calm and just go about your day's routines unless you are in one of the affected areas. >> we saw people in the santa cruz harbor, there's that overpass going across a piece of harbor there and lots of people getting out of the cars and trying to take pictures. but that's the kind of thing that's a danger, don't do that

kind of thing. >> absolutely. traffic congestion is dangerous. you know, being -- exposing yourself to traffic, we're discouraging people from doing that. >> do you have any road closures there? any low lying roads or highways? do you have any in the santa cruz area where you have closures? >> we do have closures in the santa cruz area and people are just being vitszed not to take the low lying roads. >> are you guys doing anything? have officers posted any place in particular, are you patrolling or guarding anything in particular? >> i'm sorry, i didn't -- >> i think it's difficult for her to get a signal there but at any rate, the idea of trying not to create more of a problem than there already is. we appreciate officer jackson for joining us. >> the best advice is to stay away. we're trying to bring you as

many different pictures and vantage points that we have as well. we have reporters along the coast line, even in southern california where they were telling people to close down many orange county beaches. people weren't even tempted to get out in the water, the undertow of this could be quite dangerous. >> again, this is back live underneath the golden gate bridge this morning. we're seeing just these weird current really strong suction going out and coming back in. this could go on now for several hours. it started at about 8:00 this morning, they said 10 or 12 hours perhaps. we'll look well into the evening where people should be on alert and stay away from the water if possible. you don't want to get into these current. >> we also are going to take a special report with the president. he's coming out at any second now and most likely he will address the situation of the earthquake that happened in japan. we're awaiting the pictures from

the white house shortly. >> we know the president has pledged, whatever resources japan might need, we know the pentagon has sent navy ships in the area and we also got reports that there are military bases in japan and no reports of any u.s. military people being injured. everybody has been accounted for. these are the kind of things the president will address shortly. >> sadly so many lives have been lost over there. we send our condolences out to so many people in japan. >> we also know that there are some numbers that are being put together, the federal government putting together some phone numbers so that you can get information about loved ones or friends who may be in japan in tokyo or some of the sendai. they are trying to put together an information line to call. >> we're trying to get a list as well and give you all of the information that we can. we're providing the special news break-ins to give you the up to

date and most visual pictures of what we can of what we're seeing along the coastline this morning. >> the president was scheduled to speak at 9:30 this morning. it was a regularly scheduled press conference. this is a live look at the podium there. we're told he's going to come out any moment now. in addition to whatever he was regularly scheduled to speak about, we do anticipate of course that he will address the devastation in japan this morning, the 8.9 earthquake. >> it hit 2:25 in the afternoon in japan. many people were at work on their friday afternoon attempting to go home and had a difficult time because they had to shut down train service. you see how they get ready when the president comes outputting on the official presidential seal. >> it fell off at one of his press conferences, remember that? we do know that they are still seeing aftershocks in japan. they've had as many as 50 thousand. the strong eflt was 7.2.

the aftershocks are still what we might consider major earthquakes. >> here's the president. >> the images are heartbreaking, japan is one of our strongest and closest allies this morning i spoke with prime minister kan i conveyed our deepest condolences and offered our japanese friends whatever assistance is needed. we currently have an aircraft carrier in japan and another is on its way. we also have a shippen route to the islands to assist as needed. the defense department is working to account for all of our military personnel in japan.

u.s. embassy personnel in tokyo have moved to an off-site locates. and the state department is working to account for and assist any and all citizens in the country. tsunami warnings have been issued across the pacific. and we've seen initial waves from the tsunami come ashore in guam and alaska and hawaii as well as along the west coast. here in the united states there hasn't been any major damage so far but we're taking this very seriously and monitoring the situation very closely. fema is fully activated and is coordinating with state and local officials to support these regions as necessary. let me just stress, that if people are told to evacuate, do as you are told. today's events remind us of how fragile life can be. our hearts go out to our friends

in japan and across the region. and we'll stand with them as they recover and rebuild. before i take a few questions, let me say a few words about something that's been on the minds of many americans here at home and that's the price of gasoline. in an economy that relies on oil, gas prices effect everybody. from farmers and truck drivers to restaurant owners and workers as well as consumers. businesses see rising prices effect their bottom line. families feel the pinch every time they fill up the tank. for americans already facing tough times it's an added burden. of course, rising prices are not a new fen om men na. three years ago a combination of factors, including rising demand drove gas prices to more than $4 a gallon. the worldwide recession and the

decrease in demand pushed prices back down. but over the past year the economy has picked up steam and global demand for oil has increased, prices have increased again. turmoil in north africa and middle east has added uncertainty to the mix. and lost production in libya has tightened supply. now, here's the good news. the global community can manage supply disruptions like this. other oil producing nations have committed to filling any gaps. and we will continue to coordinate closely with our international partners to keep all options on the table when it comes to any supply disruptions. here at home, everybody should know that should the situation demand it, we are prepared to tap the significant stock pile of oil that we have in the strategic petroleum reserve. we're also using the resources at our disposal at the federal level to monitor any possible manipulation in the oil markets. and i'm asking the attorney

general and relevant agencies to work with state's attorneys general to monitor for price gouging to make sure nobody is taking advantage of working families at the pump. in addition, america is better prepared for supply disruptions than we used to be. today we use 7% less oil than we did in 2005. even as our economy has grown since then. partly because of our economy as a whole is more efficient and we're adapting and producing more oil and importing less. our automakers for example, are manufacturing more fuel efficient cars. some that now get more than 50 miles to the gallon. our consumers are driving more of these cars. in december, democrats and republicans came together to pass a payroll tax cut that is already helping to grow our economy and create jobs. in the wake of rising gas prices, it should also help act

as a cushion for working families. this doesn't lessen our commitment to do everything we can to get gas prices down but the tax cut will total about $1,000 for the average working family this year or extra 80 or so showing up in your paycheck each month. that tax relief package is a key reason that even with the higher prices, economists and investors like warren buffett believe we should still expect solid growth and strong private sector job creation this year. the hard truth is, as long as our economy depends on foreign oil, we'll always be subject to price spikes. so we've got to get moving on a comprehensive energy strategy that pursues both more energy production and more energy conservation. we need to increase our access to secure energy supplies in the near term and make our economy more energy efficient and energy

independent over the long run. first, we need to continue to boost domestic production of oim and gas. last year american oil production reached its highest level since 2003. let me repeat that. our oil production reached its highest level in seven years. oil production from federal waters in the gulf of mexico reached an all-time high. for the first time in more than a decade, imports accounted for less than half of what we consumed. any notion that my administration has shut down oil production might make for a good political sound bite but doesn't match with reality. we are encouraging offshore exploration and production. we're just doing it responsibly. i don't think anybody has forgotten that we're only a few months removed from the worst oil spill in our history. we've put in place common sense

standards that proving that companies can contain an underwater spill and oil companies are stepping up. we approved 35 new yor shove drilling permits that meet the new safety and environmental standards. there is more we can do, however, for example, right now, the industry holds leases on tens of millions of acres, both offshore and onland where they aren't producing a thing. >> i directed the department to determine how much of these leases are going undeveloped and we can encourage companies to develop the leases they hold and produce american energy. people deserve to know that the energy they depend on is being developed in a timely manner. we're also taking steps that will enable us to gather data on potential gas and oil resources off the mid and south at lancaster ti lancaster tick. and we're to explore safety measures and containment

technology and looking at potential new development in alaska, both onshore and offshore. when it comes to importing our oil, that's something i will discuss with the president when i visit brazil next week. all of these actions can increase domestic oil production in the short and medium term. let's be clear -- >> we will continue to monitor president obama this morning. we wanted to hear what he had to say about the earthquake that happened in japan and effects of the tsunami that we've been following on the coast coast. we'll continue to watch what is happening there with his press conference. it was previously scheduled. in the meantime, we want to show you these pictures, we are watching the santa cruz harbor. you're seeing the effects of the tsunami come in in an unusual way. >> it's created this weird suction current and sucking boats off of their moorings and

you're seeing crews try to rope them back in. they are floating downstream, if you will, and colliding with other boats. we've seen actual pieces of the dock break away. now we're watching live this morning, here's one of the attempts to coral in one of these boats and we don't know how much damage, looking at that water right there. you can see how powerful the current is. it's misleading, not necessarily bringing a big wave but powerful current. >> you see people trying to save boats and we've seen so many overturn. >> a lot of damage in the harbor in santa cruz this morning. we've been watching as several boats have broken free. they have capsized and crash into other boats. >> that's what's happening in santa cruz harbor south. let's go to pacifica with

christie smith who's been there all morning long. we've seen this go and get smaller. what are you seeing right now? >> reporter: a minute ago i told brett talking about a surge or suction. that's what we're seeing here in pacifica. you turn around and it's like the ocean has just receded, maybe 200, 300 yards. and then it comes rushing back. this is happening within just a matter of minutes. you turn around and all of the rocks are exposed. people who have lived here for a long time tell us they haven't seen anything like this. a lot of folks keeping an eye on it. the beach is closed but they are telling us normally this would be full of surfers but it's just not safe right now. early this morning we were here and some people want to far as to evacuate the low lying levels because they weren't sure what was going to happen. of course, there are people who just want to see it.

up.ple who drove cc1: that would include this man, dave parker. from san mateo. >> yes. >> reporter: what did you want to see? >> it's a rare natural phenomenon and although it's not that dramatic, this is a direct effect of what hurt so many people just ten hours ago in japan. >> reporter: what was it like driving up? did you go along the coast and were you watching it? camecc1: over the pacific 1 and the roads were blocked off and this area was accessible and spectacular place to overlook. >> reporter: did you have any expectation of what you might see? i wasn't quite sure. >> listening to the radio, there was more -- santa cruz i thought it might be higher or lower, there's more here than i expected to see. you can distinctly see the surges come in and out every 15 minutes or so. >> it is interesting. at this point, everyone keeping

an eye on it but it does change rather dramatically. you turn and it's gone. a lot of folks out -- >> sorry for the interrupted live shot. i'm sure she's fine and everything. it's just a signal problem there. it's interesting to give you the hese looks all along thecc1: shoreline in santa cruz further north and even further north they are getting big swells. >> this is ocean beach. and we'll talk to christina, this kind of suction we've been talking about where the water sucks out and rushes back in. >> you mentioned it all morning long, brent. we are going to see a series of waves. this is not just one large wave we're anticipating. and the first wave has actually already arrived. i've been watching this live picture of ocean beach all morning long. right now it looks like we're seeing the current come back in. but i'd say about 15 minutes

ago, you could completely see almost all of the sea floor in the first three quarters of this picture we're looking at right now. that's a sign of the waters rushing out, exposing the shallow sea floor and it's a sign that the crests are on the way. sometimes you don't get this warning sign. water will rush in without a warning. we're getting a warning that the waves will come in and potentially flood the shore as we head through the next few hours. we could be under a tsunami warning until 10:00 p.m. tonight. when the first waves arrived in hawaii, they are still under a tsunami warning. you brought up the small craft advisory, you see how calm that water is here from your live pictures of alcatraz, very calm on the surface but very, very turbulent underneath the water. we're talking about thousands and thousands of water displaced

and traveling at 500-mile-per-hour speeds and all of that force heading for our coastline. that's what's bringing the tides in and bringing the tides back out. i do think the situation will provide some coast alley roegs and coastal flooding. we'll watch this for you. happening in real time right now. we only have pictures from the sumatra event. we're waufing this unfold in front of our eyes this morning and even evacuations have been called for in places in san mateo county. we'll talk to mike about how that's impacting the area and people trying to get to work this morning. >> fascinated by that. looks like the coast guard arriving at the harbor there. first an update, i talked to the folks at the santa cruz boardwalk, this is a friday. the boardwalk has extended its closure to until 11:00 a.m. they won't open until at least 11:00 a.m.cc1:

we saw a shot and nobody was walking out there. of thet know the effectscc1: tsunami as it arrives. i've marked where the big morning.as thiscc1: highway 92 at highway 35. the evacuations from the coast heading inland to higher grounds had folks stopping at the highest point they could find. earlier video from our chopper showed us that folks parked alongside the highway. because they have been parked there for three or four hours in some cases. the department of transportation brought you don't port-a-potties but that will make things more congest congested. this is going to affect our areas for hours as the ebb and flow of the water continues there. let's look at the roadway and we'll look over here for the north where we have the full closure and great highway. you can't go to the beaches. they are closed for safety sake. don't try to drive through as

well. while we're following the situation with b.a.r.t. and bridges along the water and water rises, going past candlestick park that could be affected as the water comes in. still some things to watch around the bay. let's go back live to santa cruz, again to the harbor here where we've been watching this scenario unfold, more and more of these boats are breaking loose from their mooring this morning. >> it's amazing to watch. we've seen it for the past 45 minutes or so when we first arrived on scene to get an overview of this, boats just kind of tearing away from where they were docked, cap sizing, kind of moving along the water without any -- what's the word i'm looking for, any kind of pattern at all, back and forth. >> on the left you see ocean beach this morning here in the bay area. in the santa cruz bay in the harbor, you're seeing on the

right these boats that have been broken away. what's happening is we see these surges where it sucks them out and comes back in. i smt it's wearing them down. you're starting to see more and more boats break loose and see detear yor yags. >> such a strong suction we're talking about. >> it's breaking them loose. >> the illusion is look how calm it looks like it is on top. but we've soon the force of it along the harbor and people are trying to get a bird's eye view of what's going on there. >> people are very curious, which is natural. chp was telling us earlier they were encouraging people to stay away because they have to get control of the situation. a few moments ago we saw a coast guard helicopter scouring along and seeing what's going on as well. hopefully no reports of people being injured. a lot of boats being damaged but we hope there's nobody stuck in this. the danger, whether you're at ocean beach or santa cruz, it has this powerful suction and

you don't want to be near the water. you can easily underestimate the power of this. >> it will be interesting to see what's going on south of there. we have the lieutenant from the monterey coast guard on the phone with us right now. can you describe what you're seeing in that area? >> caller: yes, in monterey we didn't experience much of a surge at all. but santa cruz took the brunt of it. right now we have our 47-foot life boat to help the harbor masters with the damage and of course, you just mentioned we have a helicopter surveying the damage up there. >> what is the plan? we're seeing all of these boats breaking loose in the harbor. is there any way to even try to coral them or is that too dangerous? what's your game plan to manage this? >> the plan is to try to get the vessels that broke free out of the navigational channels. the harbor master and commercial salvage will get the ones that aren't a hazard and work on

those. anything in the main channel, the coast guard can address. >> we saw some of these vessel assists, are those pralted by the harbor or coast guard? >> vessel assist, that's salvage, a private company. >> will you work together with them? will this strictly be a coast guard operation, who gets in and how does this all work? >> primarily anything that's in the channel that that's a hazard to navigation, the coast guard can get it. if it's outside of the channel and not a hazard and tlds no danger to life, vessel assist will kind of take care of those vessels. >> kind of gives you a view, to see how it connects to the ocean and coastline there. >> are your crews assisting at all. we've been talking to people, stay away from the beach and ocean. occasionally we've seen people out paddle boarding.

will the coast guard keep an eye on the situation. >> we're doing -- we're making broadcasts to let people know any vessels on the water. it's very short notice but we're trying to get the word out by talking to the media to get the word out to everybody to stay away from the beaches today. >> for many hours as well, not just a one time thing as this possible tsunami coming? >> houpg will you be watching this? we heard reports of 10 to 12 hours. >> at this point i can't say. i know our boat will be up there for most of the day and we have a spill response trailer heading up on the highway, should be about ten minutes out in case there's any oil spill. >> do you have any reports of those yet? >> not at this point, no. >> that's good. >> thank you so much for joining us this morning. i know your crews have a busy day. play it safe out there. >> let's check in with marla tellez live at the emergency services department and what's the latest word there?

>> reporter: good morning, san francisco overall relatively getting off easiier compared to other cities including santa cruz. emergency officials inside the department of emergency management have been here since after midnight and formulating a plan. they've had briefings with the heads of the police department, the fire department, department of public works, forming a team and thr confident they are ready to handle what situation comes. now, they did decide against ordering an evacuation for san francisco but the national parks service, you may know by now, the local beaches are closed. that's china, ocean, baker beaches cloelgsed this morning. the great highway also closed. the san francisco police chief was here minutes ago and i spoke to him about extra officer patrol. >> we would prefer they stay out of the water and prefer if they want to observe the waves,

that's fine, but stay in a location that's safe. there are people out on the water, surfers out in certain locations on the beach area, we're highly suggesting that they stay out of the water. >> earlier the mayor was here and he also said the same thing, he had the same message, to stay away from the coastline. now, we just got word from emergency officials here that mayor ed lee is going to be holding a meeting at city hall at 11:30 this morning for community leaders and city leaders, going to come together to talk about how to help the affected people in japan affected by the earthquake and tsunami. and then he's going to hold a 12:00 press conference and we'll be briefed there. that's the latest from san francisco this morning. laura and brent? >> we continue as we talk to marla to see the pictures from there.1:a cruz harbor cc there's a live look. we mentioned that the coast guard patrols out there are trying to keep the boats docked

there. we've seen several capsized eyes. our verycc1: >> they are going around trying to catch the ones loose. they don't want them to continue to do more damage but also they kind of clog up the passage way. if there was an emergency and somebody was hurt, it would be difficult to get into them because the boats would be clogging it up. real quickly, while we watch the pictures unfold, we got word this morning, associated press saying that japan says that the prerk you are is rising in a nuclear reactor. there had been reports earlier because of the earthquake that they were trying to shut down some of the nuclear reactors and in one of them they lofst their ability to cool it off and said there's nothing to worry about. they are saying in one reactor this is pressure rising and they don't have a cooling system because of the earthquake. that's going to be something to watch out for in japan this morning. thousands of miles across the pacific, here in the santa cruz harbor, this is what you have, one of those vessels that has

broken loose and looks like a crew member will try to get on that wen e and securecc1: and keep it from damaging other passage blocking thecc1: way. > rather quickly, what'scc1: interesting is that the surface of it looks relatively calm but you kind of get that almost an undertow in a sense, it pulls it under and up on the dock and slams it against the boats. we've seen a lot of damage. >> we're watching on the left some of our local beaches and what happens is you see people watching it looks like they get sucked out and it rushes back in. folks from the national weather service that we talked to say in the tsunami event, the tsunami is overriding what might normally happen in the normal tide. >> we should be during a low tide part right now and you're seeing the effects of the

tsunami. it's very interesting to see the difference in the different areas. we are relatively close so to speak. >> you notice that barge, a dredge that they keep this channel clear. that broke free and clogging the mouth of the harbor there. i can't tell -- looks like there's maybe other vessels. i think some of those you see on the water they broke free earlier and then the vessel assist went out there and anchored them down. they wanted to make sure they don't float away. >> go any further. >> that one has a few folks on it. perhaps they can't get in. >> that could be the case. that would be interesting to talk to one of them as well zbll that looks like coastguard. >> we'll take you underneath the golden gate bridge. what we're seeing and the differences of the areas that are relatively close. >> lots of areas are closed. local beaches are closed this

morning. don't go there. in most cases they've got a lot of law enforcement and won't let you go down to the water. part of the great highway, they are keeping that closed just in case when the surges come through, they don't want any damage or anybody to be hurt because of that have. >> now to give you a look in pacifica where christie smith has been all among long to see if there are any changes. not as many people now? >> reporter: no, there have been people standing out here for at least two hours and kind of seeing the same thing. but it really is kind of dramatic. what we're seeing is that the water goes way up the shore and rolls backmmediatelycc1:cc1: like 200, 300 yards. we've been talking with people the area for dcc1: years and they are saying they haven't seen anything like this

that this is really unusual. a lot of rocks just being exposed and it's just really happening quickly. normally this time of day, you know they are telling us you would say 50 or 60 surfers out there. water, you n the cc1: can't be. the beaches are closed. when we turned the corner in the low lying areas and saw people throwing their belongings into water ogs and food andcc1: because they weren't sure what was going to happen. they have been watching the coverage going on in japan, also schools closed. so we saw some kids coming up here on their bicycle saying they considered this their version of a snow day and they were out here watching the water. at this point it's just very quiet. it sort of has the feel of a sunday morning, not a lot going on. everyone keeping their eyes on the water. we haven't heard any reports of any damage or anything out here.

just very dramatic movement of the water. we're going to keep an eye on things. changes, we'll bring that to you. that's the latest from here reporting live in pacifica, back to you guys. >> now let's turn to mike inouye. we've been watching b.a.r.t. we'll osely to see ifcc1: have any shutdowns. >> that's exactly right. the reason being because b.a.r.t. goes under the water and more to the floor of the cc: ocean. we talked about the strong current underneath the surfaces we're reallyg concerned with that. bart issued another update. there are no service interruptions right now. the reason is they got word that escent city is now seeing a ird surge of waves that are looking pretty strong. hat might be an indicator ofcc: 1:tocc ournditions area as well and we're no longer experiencing the low tide. the chopper is experiencing the

area over santa cruz where you showed the harbor. we continue to follow that affecting our san francisco bay area as well. off highway 84 over at newark what a lot of folks refer to as the radio towers off of highway 4. very low portion of that bridge, the water sometimes comes right up to the edge of the freeway. if there's another surge and the tide rises, this could be a problem for local roads like highway 84 and highway 101 towards the golden gate park. right now the commute is starting to ease off and no major issues. san mateo has seen an unusual flow of traffic baugz of evacuations as well. 92 at 35 still a big issue, port-a-potties are still there as well. watch the congestion through the area and be on alert as we continue to update you. back to you. >> that's a good point, mike, you talk about the new surge coming through. when we talked to tom evans, he

mentioned you're going to see these surges and perhaps the fourth and fifth surge often times are the most powerful. >> the strongest. it's built up. >> weerl seeing another surge and it could be more powerful than we already expressed. we're going to feel it and then the folks in santa cruz should know it is coming their way. >> we've seen the effects there. let's check in with christina lor ren, we've been talking about everything we're seeing as we look live over pacifica. >> they are seeing the time frame where we see the water come back in. mike just brought up a fantastic point, in crescent city, they are reporting very large waves as the third surge comes in. now traditionally when we see sue ma'ammys it is not the first wave that is the large e. we already had the first wave in

santa cruz, what's to komg in the next few hours will really dictate how much coastal erosion we get. we e expected waves up to 2.8 feet in santa cruz and our next focus will be what is this going to do to our wetlands and do to our coastal areas as all of this water rushes in. the tsunami is still traveling at speeds of 500 miles an hour against the ocean resistance, all of that water coming in with a massive force. we will see impacts for years to come, the topography of the ocean floor will change. this is something we'll be studying asct we head through t next decade. very historic day happening for us here in the bay area and of course you guys have been bringing ugs the latest pictures all morning long. great coverage this morning. way to go brent and laura. >> just doing our job out here. we want to give people a view from all different parts along the shore so you play it safe.

they don't want people out there. you need to stay safe. we give you a lot of vantage points that we have. and this one is along pacifica this morning that we've been watching the waves get a little larger and larger and kristy smith is there watching. this is underneath the golden gate bridge. it's interesting to see the difference in areas relatively close together. >> we've been talking about how they try to monitor these things. most harbors have sensors that help predict what the tides are doing, but the same sensors are great tools to use to try to see what's happening with the tsunami. they have a few of them out in the deeper ocean, not have many. they can pick up the surge and that's how they know. >> the timetable of how we were able to tell you at 8:00, 8:09 this is what we're going to see. our eyes down in santa cruz, phil gomez joins us by phone to

tell us what he sees there. >> reporter: good morning, i'm at the santa cruz harbor and the county office of emergency services pinpointed this area as one of the problem areas that could see some of that wave activity, the 3.3 surge this morning. there's a number of boats that have been damaged severely, at least two docks received major damage from the surge of water. what happens is it comes in through this narrow channel and goes back out. it's important the dock -- boats running free in the harbor area, running into other vessel s. right now they expect $2 million in damage. that figure could jump up. the tsunami warning could run until 10:00 tonight. we've had advisory evacuations

for 6600 people. they did a reverse phone call calling them, informing them that they have an opportunity to move out. once they leave. they can't go back in. we have problems areas with people parking on bridge. the police are ticketing people because we have rubber neckers watching and taking pictures an: hey are parking in -- thecc1: harbor is a mess and i expect the cleanup will take a while. >> we're listening to you describe the scene in santa cruz, but our video is showing something else up here -- this is out at half moon bay early as people were trying to get to higher ground. that was another thing, people should knew they should leave and we saw this parking lot cc1: here. this is here. the video we're seeing here in santa cruz. have you heard reports of anybody being hurt? we saw the boats being tossed

around and some of them actually capsized but we don't have any indication of whether anybody santa cruz. incc1: >> there doesn't appear to be any injuries at this point. i think there have been a lot of panic reaction as you've seen on highway 17 and we've seen it over at the office of emergency ervices where there are somecc: families taking refuge up there, 20 people maybe earlier today. people on alert and are aware and hopefully we'll get all through this. >> phil gomez reporting live from santa cruz via kstw. now let's turn to mike mckarn. we talked about what happened to the airport in japan. it's been closed down, many flights in and out of there completely stalled. we heard reports of that here in the bay area as well. what's the latest here? all inbound flights have been

canceled for today. outbound flights, japan airlines and united are planning to fly the outbound flights but ana and delta have cancelled theirs. it's going to be a mixed bag and we recommend people call their carriers. >> are they diverting the flights? >> which flights are you talking about? >> are they able to land in toek yes? they expect it to open in time for them to land. >> the airport we saw earlier looked like it suffered significant damage but people are able to get into tokyo, is that correct? >> that's my understanding, they are doing a basic check of the runways and doing power checks and other things we would do here in the event of an earthquake. they expect narita to be open and jal flights to another airport in tokyo. both carriers are scheduled to operate later today. >> looks like you're getting

back to -- if there's a sense of normalcy, at least flights flowing -- >> that's a little surprising to me honestly. >> the goal is to get the flights operational and get people in and out as quickly as you can. that's part of the recovery, getting supplies in as well. >> mike, we appreciate you joining us from san francisco airport. we continue to take live looks throughout the shoreline. these coming to you -- look at these boats. this is what's happening in santa cruz. these are pictures that we took from earlier. they were coming off of where they are docked and hitting aimlessly damaging other boats, some kmeemtly capsizing, we're expecting $2 million in damage so far. >> we've seen sections of the dock break away. and so the thing about this is, this is what happened with the

first call first surge. this will continue now for the next say ten hours. and over time you've got to wonder about the integrity of those docks and the boats if they are already kind of loosened up and if damage has been done, if we'll see -- and if the third and fourth and fifth surges are more powerful -- >> for hours today. facing a tsunami and depending on where it hits as well, it's not like the big waves that we've seen in the past with tsunami damage like in thailand, for example. we talked to somebody earlier from the national weather service talking about the topography and we knew the santa cruz area would have a unique situation and you're witnessing it there of what happened with the boats. >> you see the way the current is kind of weird, it's almost like a whirlpool. we did actually see a big whirlpool off the coast of japan where there were vessels and people trying to get the boat out of it and literally like a

drain in a bathtub. that's what's happening in the santa cruz area too. it's amazing, it's extremely powerful. 8.9, clear across the pacific ocean, thousands of miles away and look at who we're feeling and seeing here. >> we were fortunate enough to have the technology to get the warnings to almost pinpoint it down to a time of when we would see this so they could ook evacuate people and try to prepare. you can't even prepare enough knowing that these boats have completely snapped free and so many being lost out there. >> we talked to the coastguard and one of the things they said they will try to coral the boats loose. you don't want them smashing into boats or hurt be somebody but in addition to that, they are clogging the channel. if you need to get in and out of the harbor for any reason, emergency crews had to get in there, they would be blocked off because these boats kind of

create a barrier barricade and you can't get through. they'll try to clear these out. and then as i say, somehow at some point you've got to get in there and secure as many as you can for the coming waves. >> that's the thing. there's more heading our way. they are trying to prevent the damage as they kind of take off aimlessly, look at that, the scraping up against another boat, that is securely tied there. the damage that is being done. you don't want it to continue as it likely will throughout the afternoon, we could face several hours as well. >> i don't know if it's safe for people. you see your boat and say i'll get that out of there. i don't know if it's safe for people to get in and out of the harbor. they have a difficult situation. >> heartbreaking to watch, but what's even worse is what spawned all of this the horrible earthquake we witnessed in japan and more than 300 lives lost there. we'll continue to monitor that. we're talking about the forecast and been talking about what

we're seeing, it's really fascinating, isn't it? >> it's really fascinating because it's unfolding before our eyes. i just got off the phone with eureka and they are telling me there is significant harbor damage in their as well. they are also telling me that these currents that are coming in and going out are so strong that their impacting the local rivers in the areas and the rivers are actually seeing receding waters as well. mike inouye just brought a brilliant fact, that crescent city is getting its third wave of surge. that means it's getting stronger and stronger as we see more and more of these surges hitting the coastline. that's probably what's to come for our area. this is something we'll be dealing with for at least the next three hours, when it will be the most intense. potentially something that's impacting you all the way

throughout today and tonight. it's something we'll have to watch over a period of time to really dictate how much destruction this wave or series of waves is going to bring to the bay area. i know mike inouye has been following that all morning long and following evacuation routes. is this a mess or what? >> first of all, the big issue, folks were panicking a bit. over the course of the morning there have been a big points of congestion. first, let me take you out to highway 101 roadway. brenlt just told you about san francisco and international airport and airport delays but north of the airport, highway 101 into the city, travels along the water. i'll pause it here. folks familiar with the area know the water comes almost right up to the roadway as you're approaching candlestick park and maybe you have concern as the water continues to rise and tide comes back in, we don't

know how high those levels are going to get. as you travel alongside the water, the lower flats along the bridge as well -- the great highway along the coast is stil: closed because they don't want that spectator slowing and don't want folks to head there. we saw folks watching over the course of the morning. a lot of folks left. more may heado the area if there's more activity. we're tracking the issues with regard to at the time evacuation ongestion for highway 92cc1: heading from highway 1 towards skyline boulevard where i told you before, the department is bringing out port o potties. they thought they were going to park there for a little while. between 35 and the san mateo that.e, watch cc1: 101 still congested. commute. for a fridaycc1: let's turn to jeff ranieri.

he has more on situation there. >> reporter: that's right. right out here situation has pretty fluid. we have seen the water becoming a little bit more active, if you will. we are in a low tide period right now. of1: top currentcc of turbulence happening krogs the san francisco bay. we did get a report in from somebody who is helping to monitor the coastline for the city of san francisco saying that about a half mile down near the embarcadero there was this out to sea asbackcc1: it was a sign that there were something turbulent happening here. back here behind me, it may not visible1: by large waves at cc: this point, we're certainly feeling some of the impacts from in very large tsunami that made quakes from the swarm ofcc1: much japan.tlinecc1: ne thing we do want to mention: to you right now is that tsunami

warning not only for the coastal areas but even for inland and1: napaccons santa rosa as they are so saturated from recent rains it could give rise to the creek levels. our pictures here down towards santa cruz, we have also seen the water lapping up over some of these boats in some cases from the chopper shots and we've these boats tossed around all afternoon. that is certainly not normal activity. one thing i want our viewers to understand is the fact that while we talk about this period this morning of that water increasing by 7:00 and 8:00 from crescent city down here to san francisco, it's not just a one-time thing. we could be seeing this long duration of higher than normal wave periods all the way through this evening. our biggest concern here for the mouth of the san francisco bay 5:30 whenuld be around cc1: high tide is expected here at this point. the biggest concern for everyone not to get in the water as many

times you cannot see that undercurrent and everything else that's happening up underneath this water. that's feeling the force right now. >> that's the best advice we can give people at this point, give them the best vantage point so they can stay safe. >> it will be interesting when we go to high tide because that can change things as well. live pictures to what's been unfolding in the santa cruz harbor. we're getting a better picture. it appears as we've been watching this more and more are involved. but you see a number of them piled on top of each other. sucked of them cc1: underneath the causeway. >> they really get moving as the water takes them along. so far we know that they've lost everal vessels, we've seen itc: happen. it's just they've overturned or they've completely -- tried to shore them up and they are scraping along others.

at least $2 million in damage, nformation coming from thecc1: harbor there.cc1: they are trying to do what they can, because it could progressively get worgs as the day wears on. looks like we're allowing the boat owners to get out there and move their boats. >> or secure them. >> there's one guy in the other shot that looked like maybe he was going to get his boat out of the way because it would continue to get hit. crews are trying to harness up and attach to boats like this one that are capsized, they have to clear them out because folks can't leave. they can suffer more damage and the capsized boats will clog up the channel. trying to unclog and get those out of the way an: of1: them right cc now to pull that out. >> they are filled with fuel as well. you think about the concern that they haven't had major reports. we're seeing more and more of these and have been able to

count five or six live on the air this morning. they need to try to do something to get the boats out of there. : >> we expect more surges to come in throughout the afternoon and kind of that fascinating to see against.upcc1: the weight and pressure must be immense for this tug to get that out of there. they need to clear the channel. >> it's a tough situation and they try to be as well prepared for it as they could as we hear: the tsunami warning as it came upon us that we knew it would hit about 8:00. already about 7:45 is when they santa cruz harbor started to notice the biggest change. and literally started to take the boats with it. >> if you weren't with us earlier, we talked to the folks at the national weather service and they predicted which areas would be get it the most or least. crescent city and talked about the differences between what we might see in pacifica versus in

the san francisco bay itself. then again saying that santa cruz could be one of the ones that could be hit hard. they were trying to explain why that is. it has to do with the dynamics of what's under the water. some of the channels and topography under the water and that affects where some of the most powerful places and suction will be and the santa cruz harbor was one of those places. on the dock we're seeing a lot more people. they are finally getting to some of these boat owners and letting the boat owners -- i think the owners, especially those with boats in danger -- >> can have access to it within limits, i would imagine. we've seen some boats come off into other ones so it's dangerous changing situation out there. no doubt these boat owners want to do what they can and they are trying to secure the boats so we don't see additional damage.

and it will make a tough situation even tougher. >> there have been some that have sunk. there's oil on board. the coast guard talked to us earlier about the potential environmental hazard and here you see them pulling up right here. i don't know what they are going to do -- i think they are trying to get to the one boat that's capsized back behind these other boats, what are we going to do with this one? they don't want it to clog things up or damage other boats. >> everybody is probably cc1: cringing, what could possibly happen. did it all happen? let's look at japan and what happened, the tsunami itself. the 8.9 hit at 8:45 our time, 2:15 in the afternoon. that set off a series of events like the tsunami, it engulfed -- look at the land. there's not very much out there. you'll see a few farm houses in a road off to the left. >> if you watch those cars, they are trying to get away. one guy going the wrong way and

he will back up. and then he tries to turn around the wave ucc coming and he's got to get out of there. >> it literally swept boats and 1:pt cars and homes, the forcec was so huge. spontaneous fires broke out. the at the fire withincc1: water itself. it just happened so quickly and fast. we talked about the warning we got here. look how it literally swallowed up cars and homes and unfortunately so many lives as well. i do have information while we were on the japanese pictures. nuclear about thecc1: power plant, they say the pressure continues to rise and they may have to reduce the pressure by reducing slightly radio active vapor in the air. they need water to cool it down and the water flow is cut off. >> where do the people go? >> that will be an issue to

watch. continuing to watch everything that's happening in : now.cc1:d right how the bay area is affected as well. live pictures from santa cruz taking1: a look at the upper harbor and seeing the kind of undertoe of the tsunami hitting that area and it's been the most visual because there's boats docked at the harbor. and you see how they've been torn from the dock and capsized and overturned and gone along freely. the difference han really interesting as to opposed to pacifica, the difference of the topography underneath the ground that they mentioned and how they would see this. they anticipated it. >> we're watching to see how it unfolds because other surges are coming. we got word a short time ago that another surge was hitting crescent city and that works its way down the coast. it will hit us shorltly. they are in for another round soon. >> let's talk to steve kirby with the usgs joining us with

the very latest update. what have you gathered from any kind of data that you have from the 8.9 earthquake along with all of the aftershocks they are having? >> well, our scientists have been working all night on characterizing this earthquake and the aftershocks and the strong motion that was experienced by the japanese people in northern japan. and this is a giant earthquake, once in a generation and we have to go back to the devastating earthquake off sumatra indonesia to get an event that is comparable in size and effect. and we worry about our japanese colleagues and citizens.

the region off the northern coast, pacific coast has experienced strong too severe ground motions and that can cause lots of damage. in particular, slope stability problems, earthquake triggered landslides. and also building failures. >> because this continues to go on, you had the 8.9 and you've had aftershocks as powerful as 7.2. that is a pretty good shake and a building to sustain repeated damage like that or like you said the landslides, that's a big factor now. >> absolutely. remember this earthquake the duration of strong shaking was minutes in length, say compared to the loma prieta strong ground

motion was 15 seconds. buildings are in japan and other structures have been seeing much longer periods of strong ground motion. >> can you describe that for us just so -- you mentioned the loma preieta and they know what the shaking is like. this is an 8.9. just talk to us so we can get a sense. this is the kpo dent shally more powerful than we experience here. >> the magnitude 8.9 is huge compared to the loma prieta earthquake. it's beyond all experience here in california. even the 1906 earthquake was the latest estimate was magnitude was 7.75, something like that.

so this is nothing something that is within our experience. however, the pacific northwest in january of 1700 experienced an earthquake about the same ties size as this one and created tsunami waves that were damaging in japan. >> went the other way. >> that's right. >> it's sort of the flip side of the earthquake which occurred last night in japan. >> steve, if we could ask you to hang on for a minute. we're going to check in one one of our reporters in san francisco. we're getting really good information and we'd like to come back to you if that's possible. >> sure. >> excellent. >> let's turn it to marla tellez live in san francisco. keeping us posting on what executives are saying there. >> reporter: good morning again. san francisco is doing fairing pretty well considering santa cruz, for instance, joining me now is the dputty director of

the department of emergency management where i have been all morning. shortly after midnight you got here. what's the latest? >> not much has changed. we're well into the cycles of waves at this point and as you recall, this will evolve over the next ten to 12 hours. waves are coming in in sets that are anywhere from 8 to 18 minutes apart. we haven't seen a lot of impact along san francisco's coastline, haven't any reports of damage locally. i've been communicating with partners and we've seen a little tidal surge or the coast guard reported that but we haven't seen a lot of damage in san francisco. >> reporter: are you in touch with santa cruz because it's more violent situation there? >> we are in touch through conference calls with california emergency management agency. they are reporting that i have seen damage to boats and harbors and such and up north in crescent city. this is strictly -- not

unexpect unexpected. they evacuated in anticipation of that. we will provide mutual aid as they request it and need it and we're ready to assist. >> as far as the residents of san francisco, the message -- your message to them is -- >> same as it was way early this morning, which is we're keeping the beaches closed and keeping great highway closed. it is a buffer zone protective measure, very precautionary, we don't anticipate any change and don't think we'll have any need for evacuation based on what we're seeing today. it's a buffer zone and we'll keep it that way until this evolves. we'll probably have the center open into the evening to watch this all the way. >> thanks so much for your time this morning. one last thing i do want to mention, mayor ed lee will be holding a meeting, press conference at 12:00 at city hall. he's going to tell us how he is working with city leaders and community members to help those affected in japan. that's the latest from here.

thank you so much. we want to go back to steve kirby with the usgs, all of the data they are reading from the earthquake that happened. >> steve, can you explain? we talked about this before, just for our viewers have may have missed it, why is it that a place like santa cruz is getting hit much harder and we talked to the folks in san francisco saying we're not seeing that kind of thing in the san francisco bay. why is it one place gets hit harder than the other? >> i'm not a tsunami expert but the general phenomenon is that the specific shape of the coastline and the sea floor effects the a.m. my tud of tsunami waves a lot. this so-called harbor effect. tsunami in japanese means harbor. >> interesting. >> yeah.

and so you see this worldwide, that harbors tend to get hit hardest by stsunami waves and te thing that's worry some about northern japan, it has loads of enbayments that have received devastating tsunami waves in the past and i expect this earthquake spawned similar kinds of tsunami waves. >> let me ask you something else here because i think this is a common thing that i'm hearing. they see the big earthquake in new zealand and see the one in chile and they see the one now in japan. >> talked about the lava flow. >> all part of the pacific rim here. so now they say, is it logical to think that that movement

could affect us in california? >> is there anything affected at all or not. >> this is a subject debate among scientists but most would say these are probably unconnected and it's just a random coincidence that they occurred at the same time. but again, some scientists believe that a giant earthquakes do have a physical connection when they occur closely in time. >> all right, we will see how that pans out. once again, steve kirby, we appreciate your time this morning. >> and expertise. >> very much so. thank you very much. now we want to go to sergeantry dell from the chp in crescent city, that is the area further north we were saying was going to see the bigger waves and swelz. let's see what's going on there and what precautions they are taking. are you there. >> caller: yes i am. so far we've had numerous tidal surges coming into the area and it has produced damage to the

harbor and we have traffic control for 101. >> we're showing here in san francisco, we have live pictures of what's going on down the cruz.cc1:cc1: they are seeing a lot of damage there. we got an update 35 boats now damaged in the santa cruz harbor. what has it been like in the crescent city harbor? are you seeing the kind of damage we're seeing here? >> to a smaller scale because we're smaller but numerous to els having major damagecc1: them and damage to the dock areas. >> in our case what we're seeing, it looks like they broke off the their mooring and we're getting this powerful suction. what was the situation? do you have any sense for what happened to the boats there and are you seeing the same kind of saks that we're seeing here? >> the tidal flows coming in and out is basically draining the harbor from a water and increasing the water back in and pressure putting on the boats and docks is causing the boats

and docking to fail. >> we see -- this could go on for several hours. what's your game plan up there as you try to protect the people of crescent city? >> we're keeping the people notified of the conditions that it's not overwith and we're expected for it to go several hours. and we're advising people to stay out of the low level areas, reduce your travel as much as possible. pay attention to the news channels on what's going on. and if you don't need to go someplace, now is a good time to stay home and take care of some other issues. >> thank you. >> sounds like they are in a real similar situation there. thank you for joining us. > right now we want to go live: to oregon. to see what they are experiencing there. they have a spokesperson. >> to give the all clear, as the governor said we're looking at around noon today. thank you. >> we got the tail end of it.

>> general caldwell from the military department to talk about the emergency response. > the response went i thinkcc1: extremely well. the systems we have in oregon start out through the national fema gives us immediate notification, we receive that roughly around 10:00 last night. starmt the the action all of the counties got the same information that goes simultaneously and the counties responded and reacted very vigorously. that's why you saw such a good response at the local level. the state agencies of course were starting to notify through the night and governor was notified after midnight and we worked it all night long to make sure we will had the information correct and any assistance that the counties may have needed. they did a super job at the local level and it goes to the training and the effort that they've been putting in and tight economic times, they value this kind of stuff and done a very, very good job of it.

i think that's evident today. we'll see where we can do better. here more hoping tocc1: about what damage, what they saw there. but obviously they were giving accolades for handling the situation well. so many teaming together to make sure everything goes smoothly. >> that was live out of portland, oregon. >> we take you live to santa cruz where we've seen the most damage so far. 35 boats have been damaged, up to $2 million in damage, no doubt upwards those numbers will climb this morning. and just to kind of give you a different view of the effects we've been seeing across the northern california coastline. >> we want to recap, this all stems from the 8.9 earthquake that hit in japan. it spawned that tsunami which spread across the pacific. hit hawaii at 5:00 this morning then the entire coastline from alaska down through southern california has been under the tsunami warning. we're starting to see it here.

this is a look at what they are facing at japan on the northeast coast, 250 miles north of tokyo. they have the stsunami that spread across the open land sucking up homes and buildings and cars and you'll see folks going down the highway trying to get away from this thing. we're told that the death toll is around 300 confirmed right now. but they expect because so many people are just sucked away and the devastating path that the death toll will rise. >> not only -- it was upgraded from 8.9 quake, then they've had so many aftershocks and they are extremely strong. they come very fast afterwards. i have a friend it tokyo who said it was one of the worst thing she lived through and the aftershocks make it tough for recovery efforts. the damage -- you can't imagine what it must be at this point. >> president obama saying that

the u.s. embassy personnel in tokyo has been moved temporarily and u.s. navy ships are heading there to assist in any way they can. all military personnel at u.s. bases in japan have been accounted for but they are continuing to watch that. meanwhile, closer to home, this is again the santa cruz harbor where this surge and we've talked about this phenomenon. what happens is the water just literally is sucked out like a vacuum prior to the next surge from the tsunami coming. it's that powerful suction that's pulling boats away from thirl moorings and it's destroying docks. the current count from the harbor master in santa cruz, 35 boats severely damaged. >> it is hard to imagine and see. i can't imagine being a boat owner and it could get worse as the day goes on. it's not like one big wave like we saw in japan. it's kind of the the undercurrent we're talking about and it all depends on the

topography. they are actually able -- we knew when it was going to hit and told by the national weather service that this could be one of the hardest hit, almost visual areas we could see damage close to the bay area. >> we have crews on our way to santa cruz. we've been talking to our nbc reporters from the nbc station in salinas, they have helped us. look at the swirling action to give you a sense of the power of that current. but we have crews in pacifica and crews in san francisco. we have crews at the office of emergency management in san francisco. trying to bring you the best in developing coverage as this situation unfolds. this is going to go on for several hours, we think about you a tsunami and you think of one wave. it's a surge in a series of waves coming. most of the tsunami warnings are going to be into effect until at least maybe 8:00 tonight. there is a small craft advisory

that's in effect pacifically in through saturday. >> because it could go on for many, many hours. they are tryinging to do what they can to shore up the boats out there because they know the damage could continue. leaking t of gasolinecc1: and oil leaking into the water is something else that they have to keep an eye on, that hazmat crews could have to head to the scene too. >> a lot of crews are trying to round up the boats that have broken loose. besides the boat, look, there's debri. talked about the dock breaking free. one of main concerns is keeping this main channel open so that emergency crews can get in and out. they can't get in and out if there's all of thf this debris and it's hazardous and dangerous. one of the tasks is to try to round this stuff up. >> and quickly. they are trying to do as much as they can there. i want to turn to mike inouye because traffic has been going

hand in hand, not only did we see people try to get away from the half moon bay try being to evacuate. >> this is opposite of what we see on a friday. folks are trying to go to the coast. big jams at highway 35. i want to call out the big jam up on northbound 101, an unrelated accident but it is a bit of an eyesore on the map. the congestion on highway 92 at 35, a lot of folks there went to higher ground. ow a new closure has been called. tmc says highway 1 through half moon bay between cap stran no road and coronado is closed along the coast. it's been closed because of the sue ma'am nammy activity and remain closed until 6:00 p.m. we continue to follow that as anwell as a development through crescent city. another surge coming through the area, a stronger one that that i have seen in the past two

surges. christina has told us that's typical development but b.a.r.t. continues to watch that. right now there are no service interrtions.up thunupr dee yr we have the tra bay tube. we continue to monitor that. if they get too crazy, they'll have to stop the service. right now everything is okay. >> excellent update. thank you very much. let's turn to tom evans, we talked to him from the national weather service earlier and gave us tremendous information telling us what we would see and it's all coming true, tom. >> thanks for having me back. >> our pleasure. >>. you've kind of been able to give us the forewarning when the next surges are coming through. do you have a sense for when we might see the next round coming through, whether it's crescent city, san francisco bay area? >> actually, looking at the tidal gauges up north of us, we expect to see additional surges, looks like about every 20 to 30 minutes we're getting another

surge. looks like the fifth and seventh have been the highest so far. there's still possibilities of getting larger waves. >> has the sixth and seventh hit us yet? >> we're about seeing the sixth surge hitting our coast right now. they are still on the way. >> we've seen so many so far. how many gauges do you have out there? >> we have one in port arena and point reyes and san francisco and one in monterey. we have four along our northern and central california coast. >> do you have any in deeper water or is it pretty much just along the harbors and the coast? >> we do have buoys out there in the deeper water which are showing 3 or 4 feet the one off the northern california. >> this is how you guys kind of -- as we've mentioned predict and let us know that the next one is on the way. has this panned out the way you thought it was. are they less powerful or more

powerful, how is it to what you thought before the wave even hit our area? >> they have been more powerful than first predicted, but not anything out of the realm of possibility. >> we have the initial earthquake. 8.9. and if you can help us understand what it takes to generate a tsunami like this? does the earthquake have to be a certain magnitude or certain depth or break a certain way in order for us to see what we're seeing right now. >> actually, usually we're looking at at least a 6 magnitude for an earthquake. what's really important is how it quakes. it has to do a vertical displacement. part of the earthquake has got to go upwards or downwards for a tsunami to occur, not side ways. >> and the reason i was asking that because if a 6.9 can generate a tsunami and we're

seeing y seeing aftershocks, if the aftershock doesn't create that snapping upward effect, that's the key thing. >> you're correct. >> very interesting. we've learned so much as well. we thank you, tom evans for join us us once again this morning. >> looks like more live crews are now arriving on the scene. >> we have one of our own. i understand you have new information about some evacuations? >> that's right, brent and laura, we're here at the santa cruz harbor. i've been told that they are evacuating the people away from the harbor area. the entrance is actually close but people are walked in and out because they expect a big surge at about 11:00 this morning. again, we're here at the santa cruz harbor. the pictures are more revealing what i can show you. the water, the flow is moving right into the harbor. and the astonishing part, there are people who are actually -- enjoying what they are seeing,

look y lous and don't realize this could be serious in about 13 minutes or so is when we've been told that the huge surge is expected to come in. we've seen some harbor patrol boats going up and down the harbor picking up debris that's been floating around in the harbor area. the harbor master is not even talking right now. don't have time to give us a quick briefing. but did say in a short while they'll position themselves here in our spot and give us an update. for the most part, people enjoying what they are seeing, they haven't seen anything like this before or in a long time maybe, hopefully they know that there is a lot of danger involved in all of this. and we'll keep you posted. >> i do have information that might be helpful to you. a few seconds ago we talked with the national weather service. they are monitoring their buoys and said the fifth and seventh surge of the tsunami are most

powerful. the sixth surge is coming right now. so the seventh surge should hit you 20 minutes from now. as you're watching this, that seventh and more powerful surge could be coming your way. you might want to keep a head's up on that and might see activity 15 or 20 minutes from now. >> thank you for that head's up. we're getting little information because everybody is so busy, we don't want to bog them down. they are going in different directions, you have mutual aid, the harbor master, fire department, making sure everyone remains safe. went out to the beach area at the harbor doing what it's supposed to be, it's vacant. you can see some folks out there will try to catch that piece of debris. we've seen about 4 or 5 chunks -- i'm not even sure what that is, looked like crab traps but i don't know much about fishing, been catching these going astray in the harbor area. people are trying to help each other out.

there's people still on sail boats on the harbor. maybe the panic is not there yet or maybe the warning that the harbor master has issued has not gone to them. they seem to be just fine where they are protecting their boats. >> you know, we're seeing we have the bird's eye view, we're seeing more and more boats break loose. i think it's this sustained thing that they keep getting hammered. and another piece of debris will come and take its toll and eventually something breaks loose. i think that's what we're seeing. they are trying to round up as much as that debris you mentioned that's in the channel. the coastguard told us earlier, what they want to do is keep the channel clear because they can't get nj people in and out if it's plugged up with boats and debris. what's bizarre is the flow of the water, the water flowing out

gingerly but when the surge arrives, now it is coming in the opposite direction and it's pretty fast. there's small wafls in the channel area. stuff you don't see that because you see that outside of the harbor. some interesting visuals here in santa cruz. >> we'll let you get to work and get more information from the ground there. we appreciate you live and we'll check in through the day. >> let's head further north and check in with tracy grant to tell us what she's seeing there. good morning, laura. we're here at the marin headlands where a lot of people: have come out this morning to take a look at the water near the bridge to see what's going on. we've actually run into jen winter and she was describing what it's like over there. if you can tell us a little more. >> what's happening, we're seeing water levels rising and falling rapidly. so where normally you'll see the water change with the tide, right now you're seeing the tide come in in five minutes, the

water level will change 3 feet. suddenly the water swirling around and bubbling up and then it kiwill hang out and levels wl drop again. what that means for people in the marinas, the moorings are unsteady. there are large boats and tug boat out there right now that's moored in such a way when the water flows out, it's lifting on its side, leaning over and everyone is kind of on edge just waiting to see how much water she's going to take on and when they have to cut the lines and retie her and figure something else out. >> you said it reminded you a little of a cauldron. >> it looks like it's bubbling up and swirling around and doing crazy stuff. it looks very different than it normally does. >> out in the middle of the bay, there are boats anchored out there having some trouble too because they are pulling on their anchors a bit, the water is flowing so strongly. that they are dragging their anchors and running into other

boats sometimes and some of them are tipping over and we can't quite figure out why they are lifting as far as they are but perhaps they are logs floating around getting wedged in the wrong spot. crazy. ng kinds ofcc1: >> you've seen the owners of the boats and residents come out to take a look? >> absolutely, everybody is outside of their boat kind of talking to each other and watching as the water is rising, seeing on the pilings, the little hash marks as we go, there's another inch, another inch. it's been 3 feet in five minutes and kind of waiting to see what the surges will do. and whether we're going to see the water flowing in and then flowing out and building momentum. i suppose that's the thing we're looking for to see if there's momentum that will create more problems down there. >> how does it compare to what you're seeing out here? >> i look around at the bay and say that's san francisco bay, tlsz the ocean. looks like the same as it always does. >> exactly, that's what we've been noticing out here as well.

not much happening it seems out here in the bay in comparison to what jen winter has seen. >> back to you. >> it is amazing to see. her description of the cauldron, we witnessed that in the pictures we saw in japan out at the ocean where the tsunami hit. >> it's interesting, we want to check in, we have gary roller with vessel towing and salvage in santa cruz. we just listened to the lady up in sausalito describing how the boats are lifting to one side or the other. this is the exact same thing we're seeing in santa cruz and they have cap sized. can you talk about the phenomenon going on in the harbor right now? >> caller: well, those familiar with the small harbors know that they generally have narrow entrance ways as you approach seaward.: i haven't been on scene in santa cruz, i believe that what

happened is similar to a tidal bore, that a large wave surged into the harbor and the reports that i have are that it broke at least one dock loose or partially loose and sent several boats adrift. and some of the boats worked their way up against the bridge and i would imagine based on my experience, i would imagine that the harbor patrol is pretty busy right now. >> they are. >> bringing those boats under control. >> they are doing what they can. how tough is it as well. we were hearing from someone else in the marin headlands saying it almost looked like the boats are in a kould dron and appeared as if the boats are getting sucked under. how hard is it to tow the boats out? >> it can be difficult. generally speaking, the more control that you have within your environment, the easier the process becomes. in other words, a boat that is washed up on a remote beach

location gives rocks inaccessible, very difficult to deal with. but inside of a harbor environment, you have a lot of things to tie on to and you can get fairly close to the vessels and it becomes an easier process. >> that's what we've been seeing, they've been able to get up to the bone and attach a line and try to tow it out. the video we're showing you right now, you're also seeing a lot of debris. you're not just dealing with a vessel that is either cap sized or stuck someplace, you're getting hit by debris pieces of dock and things that have broken away as well. >> that's an absolutely good observation. sometimes the things that work for you also work against you. for example, when you're in close virmts, you can get close to the boat you're working on but have to deal with other things that are pressed up against you such as other boats or structures. and so it can be a benefit and

also a problem. >> how familiar are you with the tacc1: cruz harbor? the sense that what we were hearing from the coast guard is they wanted to at least keep the channel clear because if you need to get in and out for any emergency purposes, you don't have a barricade in the way? critical.at would becc1: and small boat harbors have more than just the main channels, they also have secondary channels, such as the channels that go up between the docks and places like that can also be impacted by vessels that sink or become loose or lodged. >> how hard is it to get -- once a boat is capsized, how tough is that to tow around? you're talking about pretty excessive weight, the weight of the water is pretty incredible. >> i'm sorry, i didn't quite understand your question. >> i'm talking about how hard it is if as towing company, how

harld is it to tow a boat once it's underwater and you're dealing with the drag and pressure of a boat that's full of water? >> it can be very difficult. one of the problems off -- always one of problems you'll have associated with towing a boat that's stuck or is sub merged is actually getting a strong enough attachment to the boat so that you can successfully pull it. but it's a little bit counter intuitive that boats are extremely difficult to pull. they are actually fairly light to pull if you can get a good line on it but it almost always requires sending a dive team down to get the line attached. >> i would imagine. >> and that makes it so tough because there are so many out there already. the surge in the water continues as well. thank you very much. >> gary, thanks for your perspective. in your crews are out there, play it safe and good luck to you. >> it's amazing to see,

literally all morning long the damage that has happened there in santa cruz this morning. jucht the force the water underneath there. >> and so many different places describing the same scenario of the eddies and suction. here's pacifica, not long ago, all of the rocks were under water. >> it's changed. >> i think it will be interesting to see what days from now, what will have been washed up even more. >> that could be fascinated. >> from deeper than the ocean or what not. obviously stay away from the water. that was a curiosity point i had. it is literally changing the face of -- >> the dynamic of what's underneath here. >> it will be interesting to stulddy for the geologists. >> they are learning more about how a tsunami wave moves and how it works but they are also looking at how is what's underneath the water, the topography going to change because of the sedment and

rocks. >> as we mentioned, the effects of the stsunami will continue today. we have crews throughout the bay area and we'll bring you coverage as well of what is happening in japan. here's an update on the scheduling for today. ellen is going to move up to 3:00 and then we will have a very special tsunami special at 4:00 then at 5:00 expect nbc bay area news for the full recap. you can go to nbcbayarea.com for updates across the bay area and of course to what is happening in japan. >> feel free to share your video and your experiences. we have a place for you to do that online on our website and also on our facebook page. the more stories we can get out the better we can tell the story. >> we've done our best to try to take you there across the bay area this morning. taking you to several different shots outside the golden gate bridge this morning, we've shown you santa cruz and pacifica and